It's all in the Cards
by ss250
Summary: Some shinobi use kunai, others use their fists. For Naruto, his claim to fame will be something the shinobi world has never seen before. For Naruto, it's all in the cards! Fuuinjutsu!Naruto
1. Chapter 1

It's all in the Cards

Some shinobi use kunai, others use their fists. For Naruto, his claim to fame will be something the shinobi world has never seen before. For Naruto, it's all in the cards!

Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Prologue - **

Naruto had never liked to study. He knew it, Iruka-sensei knew it, the Sandaime knew it; heck even the grocer down the street from his apartment knew it. Usually he liked to channel his inexhaustible energy into something more useful, like pranking.

Today however, he had promised the Sandaime to at least try to pay attention in class. As in the old man had agreed to take him out to ramen if he could just sit still for a day.

Naruto thought he was getting one over the Hokage. He would show up, pay attention for once, get his ramen, and go right back to his Bad Student Ways™ afterwards. Naruto nodded his head in satisfaction. It was a good trade, he would just have to make sure to eat much more ramen tonight.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage of Konoha, known as the God of Shinobi, watched Naruto's class with mild amusement. He was far from stupid, and he knew Naruto wasn't going to pay attention past today. Of course, he could bribe him every day until Naruto graduated (not that he would), but he was hoping that Naruto paid attention to this one lecture.

Iruka was planning to go over the basics of fuuinjutsu, also known as the sealing arts. This was what allowed Namikaze Minato to slaughter countless Iwa shinobi, gain his SS – class bingo book designation, and to stop and harness the power of one of the most powerful Bijuu to walk the Elemental Nations. Hiruzen was hoping that Naruto had inherited even a fraction of his father's talent.

* * *

"The three main components of your typical seal are the chakra storage array, chakra deployment array, and the chakra composition array." Iruka was really getting into the swing of this lecture. Heck even Naruto was listening!

Despite his self-proclaimed hatred of all things books, Naruto was starting to become interested in the lecture. It was hard not to pay attention when Iruka-sensei started to talk about explosive tags, and when Naruto started to actually understand how it worked, he was ecstatic.

* * *

**A year later**

Since then, Naruto had delved into his fuuinjutsu studies like a man possessed. The Hokage had even lent him some Uzumaki texts, said it was 'birthright', whatever that meant. However, Naruto was in a bit of a bind. He knew that apart from maybe his skill in sealing, he was far behind the 'elites' of his academy class.

The students informally known as the 'elites' consisted clan children for the most part, the ones that had years of practise outside the academy preparing for the ninja life. Naruto, contrary to popular belief, wasn't blind to this.

Using fuuinjutsu in combat was something that was touched upon by the Uzumaki sealing texts. Most of it was still beyond Naruto though, but stuff he did understand required at least a team to use effectively.

Currently, he was lying on the floor in his apartment. The Genin exams were coming up in about half a year or so, and he still couldn't do the bunshin to save his life. He mulled over the problem while dextrously shuffling and flicking a deck of cards Iruka-sensei had gotten him a few months back.

Naruto sighed in frustration, not for the first time, he wished that the Uzumaki clan still lived. If they were alive, he had no doubt he would have been counted among the elites.

_'Dammit, maybe I'll go hit the training dummies for a few hours´ _Naruto thought heavily, and threw the cards aside. At this moment, Naruto's incredible luck shone through. One of the cards separated from the deck, flew across the room, and embedded itself onto the wall of his apartment.

Naruto stared at it with slight interest. _'Never had that happen to me before,'_ He walked over to the card, idly wondering whether the throw reflected his (totally kickass) shuriken skills. _'Heh, good thing that wasn't one of the shuriken, my landlord would kill me…..'_

Naruto paused at that. Normally, shinobi just threw shuriken and kunai, but the card seemed to work just as well.

_'Huh, a basic weight seal on the card,' _Naruto mused, _'maybe some chakra to sharpen the edges of the card, add an explosive array- this could work!'_

He quickly rushed over to his workstation, scribbling down notes and designs onto a notebook he had started to carry around after he started his fuuinjutsu studies. His idea was slowly taking shape, and in his mind, he was envisioning all the badass ways he could throw the explosive cards.

_'Wait, it doesn't have to be just explosives, what about that gravity seal?'_ Naruto was starting to really get excited, _'maybe remove the constant release arrays, and replace it with a modified burst array…' _

At this point Naruto started to giggle, there were so many ways to do this. He was going through his repertoire of known seals, and his uncommonly creative mind was already starting to come up with more ideas.

The ANBU assigned to watch the Konoha's resident jinchuuriki was actually starting to get worried for the kid. The seals he made had been impressive for a while, considering the kid started at 11, but never had he seen him work with such fervor. Or was it manic intensity?

After a particularly worrying cackle from Naruto, the ANBU decided he would bring this up to the Hokage next time. The last thing they needed was another insane ninja - Gai's screams of youth were bad enough.

* * *

**A month later…**

Naruto was currently in one of Konoha's public training grounds after a long day of classes. Over the last month, he had successfully created and tested some throwing cards that he thought were pretty cool. Of course, even with all his excitement, in the back of his mind he knew that his idea was still untested in real combat. For all he knew, the cards might not be viable at all.

He pondered the problem while absentmindedly throwing a card laced with chakra. The chakra in the card wasn't actually wind natured, but he knew from his studies that his element lent towards wind going by how easily he could sharpen his chakra.

The card flew quickly, slicing through the air and embedding itself into the tree he was practicing on. Naruto went to draw another card when he realized he had just thrown his last one. With practiced ease, he concentrated in the chakra in the cards, and _pulled_. As if guided by an invisible wind, the cards pulled themselves out of the tree and flew back towards Naruto. He deftly caught some of them midair, letting the rest hover in front of him.

This was something he found he could do a week into his experimentation. As it turned out, he found that he could control the cards flight, even exerting a weak form of telekinesis on it. Naruto had theorized that the chakra still in the card acted similar to when a shinobi manipulated jutsu outside of their bodies, and as such allowed him some control over how the cards flew.

In this case, he was partly correct. It was also the fact that Naruto's chakra was relatively potent in addition to the near weightlessness of the cards he was using that allowed him to change the path of the cards midflight.

Gathering his chakra into the cards once more, Naruto drew them up to chest level, and released all of them at once. He followed this up with a slight _push_ of his chakra, speeding up their flight. The cards continued into the tree they had been embedded in just a minute ago, and continued straight through. He watched with a sense of satisfaction as he saw the tree slowly topple over, having been severed to a stump. Absentmindedly, he held up his holster and willed the cards back into it.

Naruto supposed that he would have to ask Iruka-sensei or maybe Mizuki-sensei for a quick spar to test his cards. He had been reluctant to show his teachers his idea so far, as he never really had many good experiences with the academy in general to start with, but he needed to figure out any problems with the cards before he became a genin or before he was sent on active duty.

Packing up the rest of his gear, he bounded back to the village and set a quick pace to the academy. As he was trying to figure out how he would phrase it, it occurred to him that he didn't have a name for the style yet. _'The joker? It would fit with my personality' _Naruto mused _'no, that's too cheesy, maybe not…'_

* * *

"Card throwing?" Iruka asked, a little disbelieving of Naruto's story.

They were outside near the academy training posts, Iruka having been dragged there by Naruto. He had been explaining his idea excitedly, and Iruka was starting to become a little skeptical.

"Oi, you don't believe me?" Naruto shot back, a little annoyed, "here, watch," he flicked his wrist, a card seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Almost immediately, a faint shimmer of chakra seemed to pulse through it. With another flick of his wrist, the card flew through the air and embedded itself into a training dummy.

Iruka stared at the card for a moment, he was mildly impressed. Apart from being (he had to admit) pretty cool, it took a bit of skill to flow chakra into weapons, and Iruka had no idea that Naruto was capable of it.

"Hey hey, watch this!" Naruto held out his hand and _pulled_ on the chakra in the card. Iruka watched, surprised, as the card slid out of the dummy and flew back into Naruto's hand.

"This is only the basic one Iruka-sensei, I have an exploding card, a gravity card, and barrier card too!" the teacher cut him off here, "Wait, gravity card? You mean you managed to write that seal onto a card of THAT size?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked at him with slight confusion, "Sure the one in the book was a little big, but most of the array was for stability anyways"

Iruka was proud of his student. For many years, Naruto had seemed like a hopeless case; skipping school, sleeping in lectures, and playing pranks all day didn't make a good shinobi. It seemed, however, that he had finally gotten through to the errant blond.

So lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice that he was staring at Naruto with glazed eyes and a slight smile.

"Err sensei?" Naruto was starting to get a little creeped out, "So can you help me out with that spar?"

"Huh? What? Oh sure," Iruka was shaken out of his slight stupor, "you know Naruto, you aren't the first one to ask me to test their new style, a lot of people come up with things during their academy days"

"Really?" Naruto asked excitedly, "Are they any good?"

"No" he replied, "most of the time they're crap to be perfectly honest. Most twelve year olds can't come up with anything worthwhile, but this looks like it has potential."

Iruka wasn't surprised to see Naruto's beaming face after that proclamation. Naruto wasn't exactly vilified by the populace on a daily basis, but many people just didn't want anything to do with him. The general consensus for jinchuuriki across the elemental nations was that they were inherently dangerous. Most people wouldn't even give Naruto the time of day.

"Alright! Enough talk," Iruka readied himself, "Come at with everything you've got Naruto."

The blond not-yet-genin grinned cockily at his teacher. "You sure about that sensei? My cards are pretty dangerous"

"Don't forget Naruto, I'm a chunin with years of experience in the field," He felt that he had to take Naruto down a few pegs before he got a swelled head, "I won't be beaten by just any academy student with a good idea"

Naruto didn't bother with a verbal reply, instead opting to quickly flick two chakra laced cards at his opponent. Iruka intercepted the two cards with shuriken, and dashed forwards to close the distance.

Meanwhile, Naruto had released what seemed like at least a hundred cards into the air around him. With a hand gesture, he sent a quarter flying towards the rapidly approaching teacher.

Iruka replaced himself with a log. Appearing behind Naruto, he attempted to close the distance again, but was stopped when the cards still hovering around his target seemed to rapidly spin all around it.

"Really living up to your name huh 'Maelstrom'," Iruka teased while he backed off quickly, "But that's not going to be enough!" He quickly threw a few blunted kunai at Naruto, opening a small hole in the circle and dashed forwards and placed a kunai at his neck.

"DAMMIT, that defense was supposed to be perfect!" he complained loudly.

Iruka chuckled ruefully, "There's no such thing as a perfect defense Naruto," He released Naruto and patted him on the head, "now let us go over some of the good and bad parts of this style you're trying to create."

Naruto perked up at that. He quickly commanded all the cards flying around to fly back into his holster, and back to where Iruka sat down, pulling out a notebook.

"Well, the most important thing I think you should know is that you should keep on the move." Iruka said, "From what I can tell, the cards aren't the strongest thing to use defensively, and you should instead try to dodge."

"Hey! I didn't even show you my barrier cards yet though." Naruto pouted.

"Do you want to?" Iruka replied, "I know some pretty powerful jutsu, maybe you can test it against those?"

Naruto reached into his pouch, and threw three cards out in front of him in a vaguely equilateral triangle. An almost invisible orange tinted barrier shot upwards in a wedge shape, about twice as tall as Naruto himself.

"Naruto! Get out of the barrier," Iruka warned, "if this gets through, I don't want you to be in front of it."

He quickly complied, "Alright, its ready sensei, give it your best shot!"

The chunin quickly flashed through some hand seals, ending on the tiger seal, "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**" Iruka chanted, as a gigantic fireball rushed out of his mouth and shot forwards. The fireball impacted against the barrier, and left Naruto gaping at the sheer size of the explosion.

While the Great Fireball technique wasn't one of Konoha's more esoteric fire release techniques, Iruka had honed this skill to near perfection.

He didn't even have to turn around to know Naruto was giving his best pleading look.

"No Naruto," he said flatly, "I'm not teaching you that. It's bad enough that you know how to use explosive tags, the last thing I need is for you to know how to breathe fire."

Naruto pouted, but perked up when he realized that his barrier was still standing.

"That's pretty impressive Naruto," Iruka said, "How much chakra did you pump into that barrier?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I just sort of pump chakra until the seal stops accepting" Naruto seemed slightly embarrassed, "I know I'm probably using too much, but I can't really put any less into it," He mumbled.

Iruka pondered this for a moment, it wasn't surprising, considering Naruto's Uzumaki heritage combined with the gigantic chakra monster sealed inside of him, that he had terrible chakra control. Iruka was more surprised that he didn't anticipate this problem before.

"Naruto," Iruka said suddenly, "could you release a little chakra for me?"

Naruto was confused, but complied anyways. He held his hands in a seal, and a visible sheen of chakra could be seen swirling around him.

"Alright, release as much as possible," Iruka stepped back a bit.

Naruto was visibly concentrating. The chakra around him slowly increased, and his presence shot upwards. After about a minute, the exploded outwards and created a mini vortex of blue, swirling light.

"NARUTO, THAT'S ENOUGH," Iruka yelled, trying to make himself heard over the loud thrum of the potent chakra. As his chakra started to peter out, Iruka was mentally kicking himself. '_Of course he would have chakra control problems, his chakra is monstrously large!'_

"Alright," Iruka started, after regaining his composure, "First thing we need to work on is your chakra control, you need to be able to quickly release small and constant amounts of chakra for most jutsu."

Naruto pouted, chakra control exercises were so boring! He knew that Iruka-sensei was right though, but none of the books he read actually had any exercises written in them. They just assumed that the readers knew them already, as the books were more geared towards adults.

"Now, the first exercise you should learn is the leaf sticking exercise," Iruka said, "but instead we're going to use something heavier, maybe a rock."

They spent the rest of the afternoon going through some exercises that Naruto could do by himself, and Iruka stressed the importance of them in for performing ninjutsu, which got his attention.

As Naruto left, Iruka smiled to himself, Naruto was really starting to show some potential. The cards were ingenious, and Naruto had the creativity and the sheer talent to take it to new heights.

As he was turning to leave himself, he jumped in surprise as he saw the Hokage standing right behind him with an eerie smile on his face.

"Iruka-kun," the Hokage said genially, with barely supressed annoyance, "what on earth possessed you to tell a jinchuuriki to release so much chakra in the middle of the village?"

"Err, well, you see Hokage-sama," the teacher started, "I found out that Naruto had some chakra control problems… and well..."

The Hokage seemed surprised at this. Picking up on the confusion on the Hokage's face, Iruka said, "Wait, you never knew? I thought he told you everything."

Hiruzen seemed to deflate at this. He pondered this for a moment, while puffing on his pipe. "I… I think he didn't want to disappoint me. Every time I asked him how he was doing in his classes, he always said he was doing fine."

Iruka seemed to understand. It never occurred to him that, with Naruto's constantly cheerful demeanor, he had confidence issues. He supposed that he shouldn't have been surprised, social isolation combined with the naysayers that disparaged him must have been hell on his self-confidence, and he didn't want to lose the few people who seemed to believe in him.

"Well, do tell if anything new comes up Iruka-kun," the Hokage said.

"Actually," Iruka perked up, "Naruto seems to have come up with an easy way to weaponize fuuinjutsu..."

The Hokage blinked slowly, and as the teacher explained what Naruto had come up with, a small smile crossed his face. It seemed that Naruto had finally started to live up to his potential.

* * *

**5 months later…**

"You pass!" Iruka beamed from his seat next to Mizuki, "Congratulations Naruto, but I have to ask, why did you have to fill the room with bunshins?"

20 Naruto's seemed to scratch the back of their illusionary hands simultaneously. "Ehehe, I like to overachieve?" Seeing Iruka's disbelieving face, he said, "alright fine, I can't make any less, I still can't regulate my output enough to make one or two of them…"

As Iruka was congratulating Naruto, Mizuki was seething internally. He would have to revise his plan. He was banking on Naruto's terrible chakra control to fail him a third time, so that he could prey on the resulting desperation.

"Come get your hitai-ate Naruto," Naruto rushed excitedly at Iruka, and grabbed the symbol of his success out of his hand. Whooping with joy, he rushed out of the room, proclaiming his new status as a genin to anyone that would listen.

As the rest of the students took their examination, Iruka was planning to go and take Naruto out for ramen that night. Naruto had really grown on the teacher after the day he had shown him his cards. He needed to talk to Naruto about the dangers of shinobi life, and how he needed to take things a little more seriously from now on.

Iruka frowned, Mizuki was acting strange today. He had always been supportive of Naruto, but he seemed almost…. disappointed when he passed. Iruka shrugged, he was probably imagining things.

* * *

**Later that night…**

Iruka sat tiredly against the bloodstained tree with a resigned look on his face. Mizuki was a traitor. His long-time friend and confidant, traitor to the leaf. Iruka supposed that it had a nice ring to it, in a morbid sort of way.

"This is the end Iruka-kun," Mizuki said, with a vindictive smirk on his face, "It's too bad the Kyūbi brat you're so fond of isn't here to see this."

Iruka smiled slightly. The last few months with Naruto had been fun. The blond jinchuuriki wore his heart on his sleeve, and had an almost unlimited amount of energy. It was almost as if Naruto was the little brother he never had. As the oversized shuriken raced towards him to end his life, he saw… a flash of orange?

Three cards shot out from above Iruka, and embedded themselves into the ground in a roughly equilateral triangle. Almost immediately, an orange, wedge shaped barrier sprung up from the ground and deflected the shuriken upwards.

A shocked silence permeated the air.

A fourth card shot out of the air behind Mizuki, seemingly aligning itself so that the back of the card was facing Mizuki's back, it attached itself to his green chunin vest. A moment later, chains shot out of the card, restraining and forcing Mizuki to the ground.

"Hi… so... what did I miss?" Naruto was standing on a tree branch above Iruka, watching Mizuki with some trepidation. Spying his ex-teacher, his eyes bugged out, "Iruka-sensei! You're hurt! We have to get you to the hospital!"

"WAIT NARUTO," Mizuki was still struggling against the bonds, his plan could still work, if he could just shake Naruto up a little, he could stall long enough to get out of these blasted chains, "Don't you want to know the truth?"

Naruto froze at this statement, and Mizuki knew he had caught his attention.

"Don't listen to him Naruto," Iruka was getting worried, "let's go get the ANBU and get out of here."

"Do you know why you're so hated?" Mizuki said slowly, and despite Iruka's best efforts, Naruto remained still, "Did you ever wonder why you were born on the day that the Kyūbi attacked Konoha?"

"Truth is Naruto, you are the nine-tailed demon fox, YOU KILLED IRUKA'S PARENTS AND DESTROYED THE VILLAGE!"

Naruto stilled at this proclamation, and turned to Mizuki with a confused look on his face.

"That's old news," Naruto said, "I've known the truth about the Kyūbi for a while."

A second shocked silence permeated the air yet again.

Seeing Iruka's confused expression, he explained.

"Well, you see, you can't really get anywhere in a fuuinjutsu book without authors proclaiming that they've found the next 'perfect' bijuu seal. It's almost like a rite of passage for seal masters, and it's kind of hard not to notice a gigantic seal on your stomach…" Naruto said sheepishly "Jiji knows that I know, and he gave me a talk about it a couple months back, told me not to tell anyone that I knew…. Oops?"

Iruka shook his head in relieved resignation, "Naruto, you and I are going to have a long talk about classified information, and how it should STAY classified."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, he was technically a shinobi of the leaf for all of 8 hours, and was already messing it up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Enter Team 7!

**Team assignment day…**

The newly formed Team 7 was currently waiting in the classroom, and all the other teams had left with their respective jounin teachers. Naruto was scribbling away in his notebook, working on what appeared to his new teammates to be seal structures. Sakura was cozying up to Sasuke, trying to get his attention, and Sasuke himself was ignoring her, seemingly oblivious to the world.

However Sasuke took a break from contemplating revenge to contemplating his team. In particular, his thoughts were on the blond enigma, what he had mentally dubbed as the 'walking contradiction' back when he joined his class. To Sasuke, Naruto was both an idiot and a genius, talented and yet a loser all at the same time.

When Naruto was first introduced to the class, he was wearing a blinding orange jacket and orange pants, essentially one solid color. His verbal introduction only seemed to reinforce the image of an idiot. Then came the contradictions.

In academics, Naruto had rated near the bottom of the barrel. In fact, the only time Sasuke had seen Naruto answer anything in class was when Iruka- sensei started to teach fuuinjutsu, and later chakra theory.

When it came to taijutsu, he supposed Naruto was passable. Sure, back in the beginning of the year, he was barely better than the civilian students. However, he managed to turn it around and was middling the pack, even keeping up with the academy elites. If he had to admit it to himself, it was pretty impressive that Naruto had managed to keep up in taijutsu at all, with no family or clan to teach him a specialized style.

Ninjutsu however, was what confused Sasuke the most. The typical academy student, when concentrating, could mold chakra at a relatively steady rate. Barring a genetic mutation, most students had pitifully small reserves compared to adults, and consequently could only perform some of the more basic jutsu.

When it came to Naruto however, all the rules were thrown out the window. When Naruto molded chakra, he generated a visible shroud – visible! That should have been impossible for someone his age! Yet, when he released the chakra for the bunshin, the jutsu failed every time.

In all honesty, Sasuke had been jealous of the chakra Naruto seemed to command, until he saw him try to complete chakra control exercises. It occurred to him then that due to his incredible reserves Naruto would have to work incredibly hard at chakra control.

In fact, it was due to that problem that he had never seen Naruto produce a workable genjutsu, consequentially landing him the dead-last position in the class (combined with his abysmal written scores). He supposed that Naruto might not be able to produce one for a couple years – until his chakra stopped growing. Then again, with those reserves, he could become a ninjutsu specialist instead.

But the most damning evidence that Naruto wasn't just a loser appeared a few months ago. Sasuke had been training alone in a remote training ground, practising the fire jutsu he knew, when suddenly a large tree toppled over about a hundred metres away. Now normally, the tree toppling down wasn't an oddity in and of itself. In fact, that was one of Sasuke's favorite pastimes. However, he knew that he had been the only one to frequent this training ground for ages.

Upon investigating the sound, he saw Naruto with what appeared to be cards swirling around him, like leaves in the wind. He watched for a few minutes as Naruto swished his hands through the air, and the cards obeyed his every command. As he watched, the cards seemed to pick up speed, and Naruto started to go through some unique katas, the cards responding to his movements and augmenting his every strike.

Sasuke remained hidden, amazed at the display. He knew that Naruto was an orphan, and none of the teachers would teach an academy student techniques that weren't in the curriculum. In fact, it was forbidden (outside of clans) to teach civilians shinobi techniques.

This meant that Naruto had to have created the style on his own, which was amazing in and of itself. Without being detected, Sasuke slowly made his way back home. He would never admit it, but Naruto had gained Sasuke's grudging respect that day.

* * *

Sakura didn't have such heavy thoughts. That wasn't to say that she was an airhead, far from it actually, but at the moment Sasuke was on her mind. On the other hand, Sasuke wasn't reacting to anything she did and try as she might, even she couldn't keep it up forever.

She supposed her team wasn't too bad. Her team had Sasuke in it after all, and yet she didn't know much about her other teammate at all. Like Sasuke, she remembered that Naruto had joined her class last year, but unlike Sasuke, her parents warned her about getting too close to him, citing that he was dangerous.

That had always confused her. The blond was definitely weird, but dangerous? He looked harmless, especially with those strange whisker marks on his cheeks. Whenever he wasn't yelling about becoming Hokage, he was working on his seals. To her knowledge, nobody really knew why he was working on seals, but then again, nobody asked him either.

With a start, she realized that she couldn't remember if anyone had really tried to get to know the blond. Surely he had SOME friends right? She racked her brain, but every time she thought of him, all she could dredge up was orange, Hokage, and fuuinjutsu. It wasn't even as if he was introverted, far from it actually. Naruto was the often the loudest of them all, the defacto class clown, and yet nobody bothered to see past that.

In fact, throughout the year, Naruto and Sakura had hardly said more than a few words to each other. Not only that, but when as the last of the teams had left earlier, Naruto had tried to get to know her, and yet she had callously rebuffed him in favor of fawning over Sasuke.

Well, that was going to change. They were a team, and it was time they started acting like it.

"Naruto," She said suddenly, "What are you working on there?"

Naruto looked up with a little trepidation, she had just brushed him off not an hour ago, but they were a team now and like it or not they had to learn to work together.

"Hey, I have an idea," Naruto said, "How about I show you what I'm working on, and some of the stuff I can do. In return, you guys show what you guys can do."

Sakura smiled and agreed. It was a good idea to get to know the team, and a good chance for her to show off to Sasuke. Maybe he would notice her skills if not her attention.

"Alright, let's use the academy training grounds," Naruto said, as he gathered his things and packed up, "Some of the stuff I'm going to show you might be a little destructive."

Even Sasuke perked up at that, at the very least Naruto wouldn't hold him back, and maybe he could go blow some stuff up. That was always relaxing.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi, Jounin of the hidden leaf, ex-ANBU Captain, and student of the late Yondaime Hokage, had perfected his entrances to an art form. Purposefully late to anything short of a life or death situation, he often strode into any meeting or rendezvous with his face buried in his porn. Any time someone called him out, he would use an insufferable excuse. It was maximum annoyance for minimum effort, just the way he liked it.

As he walked towards the classroom, he paused at the door. According to reports by various chunin teachers at the academy, he should have been wary of a prank from Naruto. Yet nothing seemed amiss, and even Konoha's resident prankmaster couldn't create a trap capable of bypassing Kakashi's senses. In fact, unless they weren't in the room at all, all three of his potential students were stealth masters!

Kakashi dug out his assignment from his pouch, just to make sure he was at the right room. Finding nothing amiss, he opened the door and walked in… only to find it empty.

This couldn't be right. Could it be that his cute little genin had ditched him? He extended his senses somewhat. Ah there they were! He sensed them out on the training grounds. As he looked outside, a small smile graced his mask-covered face. Maybe this team might pass after all.

* * *

Naruto had bounded outside, eager to show his new teammates his skills. Yet underneath the cheery demeanour, an undercurrent of anxiety remained. Just a couple months ago, he had learnt of his burden and consequentially why he was so ostracized as a child. In all honesty, after freaking out slightly at the gigantic monster sealed inside of his gut, he could understand some of the looks of fear from the populace.

Kakashi, having entered the classroom a few minutes after they left, had caught up with them and decided to watch the proceedings from a hidden vantage point.

As the newly minted genin neared the training posts on the academy grounds, Sakura clasped her hands together in a very teacher-like fashion.

"Alright, who's first?" She said cheerily.

After a short silence, Naruto took this as his cue to show off his cards, and raised his hands excitedly.

"Alright Naruto," Sakura said, "Show us what you've got."

Naruto bounded forwards, eager to show off. With a bit of flourish, he took what seemed like a plain deck of cards. Flinging them into the air they started to flutter around him. He held out his hand palm up as if holding an invisible ball, and cards started to hover in the air, spinning around lazily.

Sakura, having never seen something like this before, was understandably awed. Sasuke, on the other hand, had a slight glint in his eye. He had seen this before, all those months back before graduation, and was eager to see how much could be done with it.

"The cards you're seeing right now are the basic variety," Naruto said, "Every single one of these cards have an array to harden the paper, increase the weight slightly, and sharpen the edges. Watch this!"

He pulled his arm back, and flung his hand forwards as if throwing a discus underhanded. The straw training post that Naruto aimed at was reduced to splinters under the onslaught of cards.

"I also have gravity cards, a restraining card, barrier cards, and explosive cards" Naruto said as he willed the cards back into his pouch. He took the mentioned cards and showed them to Sasuke and Sakura.

First he threw the gravity card at the newly decimated training dummy. It embedded itself into the ground in front of it. With a single activation hand-seal, the ex-training dummy and a section of the ground around it seemed to buckle under its own weight.

"The gravity card increases the weight of anything caught inside it's radius about ten times," Naruto said, proud of his creation.

He followed it up with the barrier card, throwing three cards down in an equilateral triangle. A wedged shaped barrier shot upwards from the ground, large enough to cover Naruto and Sasuke, who was standing the closest.

"The restraining card needs a human volunteer, although I think I'll show you guys later. Finally the explosive card is essentially an explosive tag." Naruto finished proudly.

Sakura and Sasuke were suitably impressed. From what little they knew from their fuuinjutsu classes, nothing Naruto did was technically new. All the seals he used were adapted from established sources; the gravity seal was touted as a training method, the barrier seals were used in defense of certain buildings in Konoha, and the sharpening seal was sometimes etched onto high-end shinobi weapons. It was the way that these seals were used, combined into Naruto's new and unique fuuinjutsu based fighting style, which impressed them.

Sasuke was a little reluctant to show off. Personally, he thought the idea of a genin team would only hold him back. However from what he knew of Konoha's traditions, the genin team was the best way to get a jounin-sensei. Securing an apprenticeship from a jounin was prohibitively hard as an academy student. Even then it generally happened only during wartime, when almost every jounin had to teach genin.

Deciding to play along for now, he silently stepped up facing the training post next to the pile of splinters Naruto had decimated.

Without preamble, he flashed through some hand-seals and called out, "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**". A fireball, almost twice as wide as Sasuke was tall, shot out of his mouth. It burned a trench as it traveled towards the training post. Upon contact, the fireball exploded, effectively obliterating the unfortunate training post and a section of the forest behind it.

Almost immediately afterwards, he went through another set of hand- seals, and called out, "**Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu**". Shooting small, head sized fireballs rapidly, he quickly took out the head of every other training post on the grounds.

Kakashi, still watching from his vantage point, buried his face in his hands. The training grounds would need to be refitted afterwards, and he would have to make sure it came out of Sasuke's pay.

Sasuke surveyed the damage, a satisfied look on his face. Behind him, Naruto and Sakura were gaping at the sheer destruction the fire had caused.

"I'm also pretty good with taijutsu." Sasuke said, almost as an afterthought.

By this point, Sakura was feeling a little down. While she was amazed that she was lucky enough to land such talented teammates, she felt that she couldn't bring much to the table at all. Oh sure, she had some of the highest scores in the academy, beating even Sasuke in academics, however she had little in the way of practical skills. She could have never imagined that both boys took their respective jutsu to such levels.

Sensing her discomfort before the boys did, Kakashi chose that time to introduce himself, appearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Hello everybody!" Kakashi appeared, looking completely unruffled, "Sorry for being late, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around."

Naruto and Sakura look indignant at the sorry attempt at an excuse, and made it known quite loudly.

_'Aaaah, still got it'_ Kakashi smiled, as Naruto picked up the rant in full swing.

Ignoring Naruto, Kakashi cut him off, "Meet me on the academy roof in 5 minutes," and he disappeared in a second swirl of leaves.

* * *

Five minutes later, the disgruntled team 7 found their sensei on the roof of the academy, leaning on the roof and reading an orange book. As they took their seats, Kakashi snapped the book shut.

"Now, you guys seem to already know each other, but I wasn't around for that," Kakashi said innocently, "Why don't you guys introduce yourselves, tell me your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, things like that."

Sakura look faintly annoyed at her sensei, "Why don't you go first sensei?"

"Who me?" Kakashi drawled, "Alright, my name is Hatake Kakashi, I have no desire to tell you my likes or dislikes," he paused shortly, "Dreams for the future, hmm… I have lots of hobbies."

Sakura turned to Naruto and Sasuke and whispered, "So all he told us was his name?"

"Alright blondie, you're up first." He nodded towards Naruto.

"Alright! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, one of the last of the Uzumaki clan! What I like is cup ramen, I also like working on fuuinjutsu," Naruto said happily, "I dislike it when I accidentally overload my seals, and my dream…" Naruto seemed visibly become more determined, with a confident smile on his face, "My dream is to get people in this village to acknowledge me, and become the Hokage!"

_'Interesting… seals huh? Maybe I could teach him a few things'_ outwardly, Kakashi showed no signs of interest.

"Next," he drawled lazily, and turned towards Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." he said blandly, "There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. Dreams… I don't have any dreams, but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan, and to kill a certain man."

The genin and Kakashi went silent at this completely straight faced proclamation. Inwardly, Kakashi sighed. While he could understand where he was coming from, he knew that the path that Sasuke was going on wasn't particularly healthy.

"And lastly the girl."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing like is… well the person I like is…" she glanced shyly at Sasuke, "and umm, dreams for the future…."

_'No wonder she was so worried earlier, she likely spends all of her time fawning over Sasuke if she can't even get through this introduction'_ Kakashi thought.

"Alright," Kakashi said gleefully, "Now, I'm sorry to inform you that you aren't technically genin yet."

Kakashi looked at their confused and indignant faces with barely suppressed amusement. This was the best part of testing genin. He let Naruto and Sakura's complaints wash over him.

Completely ignoring them, he cut them off, "There will be a skills test tomorrow at 6:00 AM sharp on training ground 7, see you tomorrow! Oh, and don't eat breakfast, you'll just puke it up." With that, Kakashi vanished in yet another swirl of leaves.

"You know," Naruto said slowly, "I'm really starting to hate it when he does that…"

"Hn." "Agreed."

* * *

**9:00 AM the next morning…**

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura yelled at the same time.

"Good morning students," Kakashi said cheerfully, ignoring the genins' annoyed looks. He took out two bells from his pouch.

"Here are two bells," he held them up for them to see, "your task is to get them from me before noon. The one who doesn't get a bell doesn't get lunch, and will be sent back to the academy."

"I suggest that you come at me with the intent to kill," He gauged their reactions carefully, "You won't succeed otherwise."

Kakashi noticed that Sakura was about to speak up, but she seemed to reconsider, and remained silent.

"Any questions?" He paused for a moment, "Alright then, BEGIN!"

Sakura and Sasuke leaped away to find a hiding spot, while Kakashi and Naruto stayed in the clearing.

"… You know, you're a little off," Kakashi commented, "shouldn't you be trying to find a hiding spot?"

"Screw that, it's not like we can hide from you anyways," Naruto had experienced this firsthand, he could never hide from Iruka-sensei after his pranks, "So fight me!"

Naruto quickly took out two decks of cards from his pouch. Holding them in the palms of his hand, he channeled chakra into them, and they began to spin off his hand until they were all swirling around him in cylindrical orbits.

"So you think you can beat a jounin level shinobi one on one?" Kakashi asked, "You're not brain damaged are you?"

"Nope! There's no way I can beat you." Naruto replied cheerfully. "But this is a skills test right? I'm here to show you my skills!"

"What, you're not going to think about it? No looking for any deeper meaning, hidden life lessons and the like?" Kakashi asked sarcastically, and he had such high hopes for Naruto's 'hidden' intelligence too.

"Nope!" and with that Naruto dashed forwards at Kakashi, the cards following closely. With a midair spin, he sent a few of them hurling towards the jounin, who deflected them lazily. Undeterred, Naruto continued without missing a step.

Bringing a few cards in front of him, Naruto began to attack Kakashi relentlessly, every kick and punch accompanied by spinning cards that followed the flow of his limbs. Spinning and dodging around acrobatically, Naruto kept just of out range of his teacher's limbs, while commanding the cards as if using his body as a conductor.

Kakashi, while outwardly looking bored, was actually quite interested in his potential student's fighting style. When he had seen the cards yesterday, he imagined that Naruto would have the same problems as some of the puppeteers from Suna - overly reliant on their tools and weak in taijutsu.

Naruto however, seemed to take the opposite route. Twirling in the thick of things, Naruto seemed to use the momentum of his spins to propel the cards towards his opponents from unpredictable angles.

After a front flip that somehow ended up with Naruto doing a handstand on his shoulders, Kakashi decided he'd seen enough. While Naruto had come close to obtaining the bells a few times, he still didn't get the deeper meaning of the test. The jounin quickly replaced himself with a log, appearing a few meters away. Flashing through some hand-seals, he tunneled underground and grabbed Naruto's ankles, dragging him into the dirt up to his neck.

"Good effort," Kakashi said, enjoying Naruto's distress, "Though apparently, it's not good enough to pass."

* * *

Sasuke was watching the fight between Kakashi and Naruto from a nearby tree looking for an opening. The fight itself was an impressive display of acrobatics by Naruto, however what got him thinking was when Kakashi mentioned a hidden meaning.

_'Two bells for three people'_ Sasuke thought _'is there some sort of lesson here?'_

Sasuke mulled over the problem. He thought of what he knew of shinobi, and what his clan had taught him before they were massacred. _'Sacrifice!'_ he thought with a start, _'That must be the hidden meaning!' _

Sasuke personally thought that the lesson he assumed Kakashi was trying to drive home with this test was a little bit morbid for new genin. Nonetheless, he thought that it was an important lesson for shinobi in general. Sometimes, one had to make sacrifices for the good of the mission, and the good of the village.

As Kakashi went off to Sakura's direction, Sasuke went to go free the blond. He had to admit, the sight of Naruto's disembodied head sticking out of the ground was both disconcerting and amusing.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto yelled, while struggling, "Get me out of here!"

After he was dug out Naruto quickly willed his cards back into his weapons pouch.

"So I figured out the hidden meaning in this test," Sasuke said without preamble.

"Really?" Naruto said interestedly, "There's a hidden meaning? I thought it was a skills test?"

Sasuke look at Naruto slightly annoyed. It appeared that Naruto's intelligence only extended to fuuinjutsu.

"Of course there's a hidden meaning idiot," he said irritably, "Two bells for three people? There's no point of arbitrarily failing one of us unless it was to teach us a lesson."

"The hidden meaning is sacrifice," Sasuke continued, "We have to work together if we want to beat Kakashi. Sakura won't pass unfortunately."

Naruto went silent at this. "You're planning to abandon her?" he asked incredulously.

"Don't worry Naruto," Sasuke said dismissively, "she'll pass next year. You know, she might benefit from another year at the academy anyways. I mean, have you ever seen her actually training?"

They could hear Sakura scream in the distance, and they correctly assumed that Sakura had just been tested.

"No!" Naruto shook his head vehemently, "I refuse! You can't just abandon her Sasuke."

The confrontation was starting to escalate, and the raised voices could be heard from Kakashi's position over the recently incapacitated Sakura.

_'Well,' _Kakashi thought, _'This just got interesting'_

"Don't you understand?" Sasuke stood his ground, "This is what it means to be a shinobi! Sometimes we have to make choices Naruto! We can either pass – just the two of us – or all three of us can fail."

Naruto's face darkened at this. The notion didn't sit right with him. It went against all his preconceived ideas of what Konoha stood for.

"No!" Naruto repeated forcefully, "you don't get to make that decision Sasuke!"

Naruto turned to leave, but Sasuke grabbed his arm, forcing him to stay.

"Choose Naruto," Sasuke said heatedly, "You're a genin now, a shinobi, and this test is about sacrifice. Even if you do get the bells, you'll still have to choose someone to go back to the academy!"

"If that's what it means to be a shinobi…" Naruto looked down, paused for a second, and turned back to Sasuke with determination brimming in his eyes, "The I'll CRUSH that idea of a shinobi!"

As Sasuke stared at Naruto's retreating back, he mulled over what he said. Crushing the idea of a shinobi, it sounded impossible. But when he thought back to the determination in his eyes he believed, however irrational it was, that Naruto could do it.

* * *

Kakashi had perched himself on a nearby tree as the confrontation between the two escalated, and inwardly, he was marvelling at the similarities between this and his own confrontation with Obito. He saw Naruto's determination, felt Sasuke's indecision, and heard Naruto's proclamation.

Kakashi knew that the team dynamic could be irrecoverably damaged depending on Sasuke's decision right now. He refrained from interfering, he knew from experience that they needed to work this out on their own.

He watched as Naruto left in the direction of where he heard the scream. Sasuke was wracked with indecision as he started to get visibly frustrated.

_'What will you do Sasuke?'_

* * *

Naruto found Sakura passed out in a small clearing with no visible injuries. _'Genjutsu?'_ Naruto wondered idly, as he tried to remember what Iruka sensei said about breaking them. Didn't he say something about pain being a good way? Naruto was a little reluctant, but drew his hand back anyways, prepared to slap her awake.

Before he could, his hand was grabbed by Sasuke.

"Here, let me do it," Sasuke said, "All you need to do is to disrupt her chakra."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, the other in a half ram seal, and pushed his chakra outward. As Sakura was getting up, slightly groggy, Naruto looked at Sasuke apprehensively.

"Well?" Naruto asked, "So what'll it be?"

"Fine," Sasuke said grudgingly, "Fine! I still think we'll fail, but we'll do it your way."

Kakashi was reading his Icha Icha in a nearby clearing, when a card came spinning through the air at the back of his head. Without even turning, he ducked, not looking up from his book. Suddenly, Sasuke and Naruto burst out of the trees, and engaged Kakashi in a fierce taijutsu match, Sasuke's precise and pinpoint strikes contrasting with Naruto's swirling style. Inwardly, Kakashi was intrigued, he could feel Sakura's presence in the trees behind him, and he decided to spring the trap.

Suddenly, Naruto threw a card that looked slightly different from the rest. Kakashi didn't realize this until it was too late however, and when Naruto activated the card, all three of them suddenly felt much heavier. Kakashi was caught off guard and he stumbled slightly as Naruto and Sasuke were struggling to stay upright.

"NOW!" They yelled simultaneously, and Sakura dashed out of the trees, ripping the two bells off of Kakashi's belt.

Kakashi couldn't believe it. He was expecting a trap, but he had forgotten about the gravity card Naruto showed off yesterday, and he had been caught off guard long enough for the three genin to actually get the bells. He was feeling both proud and a little bit annoyed. He had actually let three fresh out of the academy genin beat him in this test.

He gaped at them (not that they saw), as Sakura looked smug, Sasuke looked resigned, and Naruto looked annoyed. He decided to test their resolve one last time.

"So, who'll it be Sakura?" Kakashi asked, "You have to pick somebody to pass with you."

Sakura paused for a moment, and threw the boys one bell each.

"They deserve to pass sensei," She said resolutely, "I'll go back to the academy."

Naruto however had just about enough.

"This test is bullshit!" He yelled at Kakashi, "You want us to ABANDON someone? Is that what you're trying to teach us?"

Chakra started to swirl around Naruto, and the wind seemed to pick up.

"Screw this!" Naruto threw the bell back at Sakura, "I'll go back to the academy. I refuse to be on a team with someone like you Hatake!"

"Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke remained silent for a moment, everything he was taught by his clan was racing through his mind. His thoughts were in turmoil as he made what might be the defining moment of his (admittedly short) career.

"Naruto is right," He finally said, "I refuse to abandon my comrades Hatake, find another team of genin."

"I see…" Kakashi was silent for a moment, "Well, I guess that means you all….. pass!"

"Huh?" "Eh?" "Hn?" came the simultaneous replies from the bewildered genin.

Kakashi led confused students to a small monument next to the training grounds.

"On this stone, the names of the shinobi that are recognized as heroes are carved here." Kakashi looked solemn, "They are all the heroes who died while on duty."

"The most important thing I want you to remember," Kakashi continued, "Those who break the rules, like you three did, are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

"Alright, meet me here tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM sharp!" Kakashi said cheerfully, "Sakura, stay back for a moment."

As Sasuke and Naruto left cheerfully (or in the case of Sasuke, slightly less dour), Sakura waited nervously for Kakashi to say something.

Kakashi sighed audibly, "Sakura, do you want to continue as a kunoichi?"

Sakura looked confused and a little fearful, "Sensei? What do you mean?"

"Look at Naruto and Sasuke," Kakashi said, though not unkindly, "They're both skilled genin. Sasuke is the top of the class, while Naruto probably has combat skills on par with him. I'm sorry to say this, but you need to shape up."

"Sensei…" Sakura looked down, then visibly tensed, "I refuse. I refuse to be a burden to them sensei."

She look up at him with a hopeful expression, "Will you help me?"

"Of course," Kakashi smiled, "All you had to do was ask."

* * *

**That night, in the Hokage tower…**

Kakashi entered the Hokage tower, his face buried in his porn and two hours late to his meeting. He entered the Sandaime's office.

"Team 7 passes Hokage-sama." Kakashi said dutifully.

"I'm sorry for forcing them on you Kakashi-kun" The Hokage said, "They're just too politically connected, the last Uchiha and our Jinchuuriki."

"I think you misheard me Hokage-sama," Kakashi said happily, "Team 7 passes, and would have passed even if you hadn't forced me to pass them."

Hiruzen looked surprised at this, "They actually passed?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, lost in his thoughts, "They remind me of my old genin team…"

"Though I have to ask Hokage-sama," Kakashi continued, "I understand putting Naruto and Sasuke together, they both have potential as front line fighters, but Sakura?"

"Sakura is special Kakashi-kun," The Hokage said genially, "In fact, I believe the three of them have the ability to eclipse even the Sannin."

"Special?" Kakashi asked skeptically.

"Oh yes," the Hokage replied, "We never told her, but she has the best chakra control we've seen since Tsunade was in the academy. In fact, she beat her record."

"All three of them have something that sets them apart." The Hokage continued, ignoring Kakashi's incredulous expression, "Sasuke is the last loyal Uchiha, and while his scores weren't as impressive as Itachi's, he had the raw talent to force elemental ninjutsu from an element he doesn't have an affinity for at a young age.

Not to mention Naruto. I never told him this, but he managed to decipher Uzumaki fuuinjutsu texts that managed to stump some of our top experts. In fact, it took half a decade for Jiraiya to decipher them, and Naruto only took a little over a year."

Kakashi gaped at the smug Hokage for a second, then smiled.

"I guess I have my work cut out for me then huh?"

* * *

**A.N.**

**A little less Naruto centric for this chapter, I needed to do some heavy character exposition for the story to flow nicely in the future. Not to mention Sasuke is just amazing as a character, but he gets bashed waaay too often…**


	3. Chapter 3 - Training days

Chapter 3 – Training days

**A month after the bell test…**

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the message from the Hokage, and if the message had eyes, it would have done the same. After almost a month of team training, Kakashi didn't want anything interfering with their rhythm. The message, written politely, was telling team 7 to get off their metaphorical asses and go do some D-rank missions, something they had been putting off for the last month.

Kakashi supposed that they should have been doing them anyways, but training the team had just been so interesting. After the false start from the genin test (and some actual effort put into training by Sakura), all three genin seemed to have gained a mutual respect for each other. This translated beautifully into teamwork and camaraderie, and Kakashi couldn't imagine it having gone better.

Individually, they were no less impressive. Sakura had decided to become a med-nin, and Kakashi had been teaching her all he knew. From fighting styles he had seen with his sharingan in the past, Kakashi taught her taijutsu that centred on evasion and critical strikes, perfect for med-nins. After learning to use chakra scalpels in a shockingly short amount of time, her effective threat level shot upwards.

Outside of his training, Sakura had signed up for biweekly tutorials at the hospital, which were geared towards chunin who wanted to augment their skillset. While many were wondering how a fresh genin was keeping up with them, they started to resent her when she started to overtake them.

* * *

Sasuke lived up to his title as rookie of the year. After finding out that his primary affinity was lightning (and not fire), he spewed curses that almost made Kakashi blush. It was rare for an Uchiha to have an elemental affinity of something other than fire, and as a result, Sasuke had spent the last few years just assuming he had no talent at elemental ninjutsu.

Lightning jutsu came almost second nature to Sasuke. Kakashi taught him multiple close range jutsu, and even a mid-ranged one called "**Raiton: Raijū Tsuiga**", which expelled lightning in the form of a dog. He would never show it, but Sasuke was secretly elated at the new jutsu, it gave him so many more ways to avenge his clan.

Kakashi had also worked on Sasuke's taijutsu. Unfortunately, while Sasuke was proficient in his clan's taijutsu style, it required an active sharingan to use to its full potential. Rather than teaching him a new style, Kakashi simply opted to awaken Sasuke's sharingan instead.

**Flashback, one week after bell test… **

_Kakashi was perched up on a tree near the Uchiha clan grounds, in disguise and waiting for Sasuke to come home. It was getting dark, and Kakashi had unfortunately been waiting for over 3 hours. In a strange turn of events, Sasuke had been keeping his teacher waiting, albeit unintentionally, and Kakashi was starting to get annoyed. _

_The particular tree he was sitting on was actually the perfect spot for an ambush, and when the Uchiha clan was still alive, many took advantage of this fact. It was a common occurrence for parents or older siblings of Uchiha clan members to try and awaken their younger members' Sharingan. Kakashi was planning to keep the tradition alive. _

_Sasuke, having been relatively young when the massacre took place, did not know many details about the tradition. In the back of his mind, he knew that the practise existed, but having no family left he didn't think that the tradition would continue. _

_Transforming himself into a passable imitation of a Kumo shinobi, Kakashi started a frontal attack with heavy use of killing intent. If Sasuke had been on a mission, and therefore prepared for the possibility of an attack, he may have been able to effectively retaliate. As it was, he was caught unprepared, but still managed to dodge out of the way and put some distance between him and his attacker. _

_The killing intent was rolling off Kumo-Kakashi in almost palpable waves, and Sasuke was starting to grow fearful. Intellectually he knew what killing intent was, facing it in such large amounts however was a completely different story. _

_In a flash, Kumo-Kakashi dashed forwards, a knife held in his hand stabbing towards Sasuke's face. In that moment, Sasuke could feel with upmost certainty that he was going to die. He never going to avenge his family or bring back his clan. He would face them in the afterlife having failed in his life goal, and in that moment, everything slowed. The difference was like night and day. Suddenly, he could see the knife coming closer, see the exact path it would take, and he dodged. _

_Reorienting himself, Sasuke prepared for another attack, only to stop in confusion as he took a closer look. Before, the Kumo shinobi was just that, a Kumo shinobi. However right now the attacker looked decidedly Kakashi-like, complete with his infuriating eye-smile. He narrowed his eyes, then like a bolt of lightning it hit him. Taking off his hitai-ate quickly, he looked into the reflective metal… _

**Flashback end**

* * *

Naruto, while he didn't get too much physical training in, had made leaps and bounds in his unique fighting style. Kakashi helped where he could, sometimes suggesting seal structures or pointing out minor mistakes, but he could hardly keep up. Naruto just seemed to absorb anything and everything to do with fuuinjutsu.

It wasn't all fun and games however. The blond genin nearly gave Kakashi a heart attack one day when he caught Naruto trying to draw seals on his arm.

**Flashback, two weeks after the bell test…**

_Kakashi had visited Naruto one day in his apartment out of the blue to talk to his student. Unfortunately it seemed that he had caught his student at an inopportune time._

_"NARUTO!" Kakashi was gaping at his student's stupidity, "Are you insane?! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"_

_Naruto was currently sitting on the floor of his apartment, inscribing seals that ran up the length of his arm and bled over to his shoulders. He looked at Kakashi, confused. _

_"Eeh?" Naruto tilted his head to the side, "Oh! You mean these? Don't worry, I've got this covered."_

_Kakashi didn't dare move or make a sound as Naruto continued, for fear of distracting his student. Fuuinjutsu on one's body by an inexperienced practitioner was always dangerous, as the body acted like a constant chakra source. Sometimes, the seal could start eating up chakra indiscriminately, or it might stop chakra flow to that part of the body entirely, which could result in the affected area rotting away. The list of things that could go wrong were immense. _

_As Naruto finished, Kakashi held his breath as the blond activated the seals that now ran up the length of his left arm. The array seemed to glow red, then blue as it raced up his arm and into a small Uzumaki spiral on the back of his shoulder. _

_Releasing a sigh, Kakashi grabbed Naruto's left hand before he could start on what he assumed was an identical seal on his right arm. _

_"Naruto…." Kakashi started ominously, "Mind telling me what exactly you were thinking?"_

_"Err," Naruto started nervously, "You really don't have to worry…. I mean, I tested these seals and everything first…"_

_Kakashi wasn't particularly reassured, while Naruto was talented, he was still no seal master. _

_"Fine, but show me the one on your left arm works before doing your right." Kakashi examined the left seal, "What does this seal do anyways, it looks like…. A storage seal?"_

_"Yep," Naruto perked up, "I was getting tired of reaching into my pouch every time I wanted to draw some cards, so I thought of a storage seal on my hand. I couldn't inscribe the seal directly on my hand, cause then making hand-seals would activate it all the time, so I inscribed it on my shoulder, with the release arrays set to release above my hands."_

_"But that's not all right?" Kakashi asked, Naruto had activated the seal on his left shoulder, and it ran down the length of his arm at an almost untraceable speed. _

_"Nope!" Naruto replied cheerfully, Kakashi seemed to be the only one other than Hokage-jiji who had the patience to talk seals with him, "I modified the storage seal to only store my cards, and separated each kind of card into 'compartments'. Essentially, if I pulse the chakra on my shoulder a certain way, a different card in different amounts will be released into my hand. Watch!"_

_Naruto grabbed a couple deck of cards off his table. Kakashi recognized them as a deck of his basic cards, along with a mixed deck of his customized versions. The basic cards were levitated next to Naruto's bicep, and with a pulse of chakra, the seal on his shoulder expanded and sealed the cards. When Naruto did the same with the mixed deck, the cards seemed to group themselves in slightly different orientations before being sealed into his arm. _

_With another pulse of chakra, the seals flashed down his arm and out popped a gravity card, hovering lazily above his hand. Naruto kept the card hovering there as he waved his hand around in an arc, unsealing more cards and letting them hover in the air where they were unsealed. _

_"See? Perfectly safe." Naruto said._

_"Fine," Kakashi conceded, "Alright fine, just…. At the very least, let the Hokage or myself see the seals before you try any more on yourself alright?"_

**Flashback end…**

What worried him was the talk he had with the blond right after that. The team was fast becoming inseparable friends, but as shinobi they would be facing life or death situations very soon. There was a good chance that Naruto might use the Kyūbi's chakra, and if they were to be the team that the Hokage envisioned, such a secret needed to be told.

**Flashback, back to the apartment…**

_"So what are you doing here anyways Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, "And how did you get in? I thought I had everything locked."_

_Kakashi grinned underneath his mask, "Aah, but what kind of ninja would I be if I couldn't break into your house?"_

_"A polite one maybe?" Naruto shot back, "Really though, I chose this time to do the seals so no one would bother me, so why are you here?"_

_"Well," Kakashi said, "I wanted to talk to you about the Kyūbi."_

_"What about it?" Naruto said nervously, he had just finished the seals on his right arm as Kakashi was talking._

_"You need to tell Sasuke and Sakura," Kakashi said bluntly, "They deserve to know."_

_Naruto went silent at this. It actually unnerved Kakashi, Naruto was rarely silent, even when working on his seals he would be mumbling formulae under his breath. The blond appeared to be examining the seal on his right arm closely, seemingly ignoring Kakashi._

_ "Naruto?" Kakashi asked tentatively._

_"Sensei…" Naruto replied, almost whispering, "Do you think they'll hate me?"_

_"They're your friends Naruto," Kakashi said, "You need to trust them. They know you as Naruto, not as the demon fox."_

_Naruto remained silent at this. He seemed to be examining the newly inscribed seals carefully on his arm._

_Kakashi walked to the door, "Think about it Naruto, they deserve to know…" and with that, Kakashi left in a swirl of leaves. _

**Flashback end…**

* * *

Team 7 and Kakashi was currently training in the training grounds that they took the bell test in. Sakura was pouring through a textbook, occasionally making hand seals and experimenting with different kinds of chakra scalpels. Sasuke was meticulously going through taijutsu katas, his hands crackling with electricity every now and then. Kakashi was off to the side, staring intently at a piece of paper in his hands.

Naruto, however was absentmindedly scribbling in his notebook, thinking about what his sensei had said that day 2 weeks ago. He was wondering how to broach the topic of the Kyūbi to Sasuke and Sakura. It wasn't as if he could just come out and say 'Oh, by the way, I have a gargantuan chakra monster sealed inside my gut, and that's why people hate me'.

In all honesty, Naruto was scared. There weren't many things that could do that, and most of the time Naruto was a punch first think later kind of guy. However his childhood had left scars though, from the cold looks every time he ventured out, and the social isolationism on the playgrounds of Konoha.

Naruto could see why he needed to tell them though. In life or death situations, which they would undoubtedly face as shinobi, there was a chance he could draw on the Kyūbi's power and end up hurting them.

The reason he was nervous about revealing his status to his teammates was due to the fact that they were the first people that had gotten to know him without first knowing of his burden. Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, the Hokage, even the people at the ramen stand knew full well what burden he had before they decided it didn't matter.

Naruto was jolted out of his thoughts when Kakashi called them all over.

"So the Hokage decided we've been lazy lately," Kakashi said, "That's why we're going to be starting missions today."

The team perked up at that. They hadn't started missions yet, even though all the other genin had been doing them almost immediately after they passed their test.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked excitedly, "What are we going to do first? Save a princess? Defeat a bandit camp? Oh oh, maybe we'll save a country from oppression from an evil tyrannical overlord?"

Sakura and Kakashi sniggered, they both knew what kind of missions genin got. Sakura actually had to listen to Ino gripe about it when they weren't arguing about Sasuke, and Kakashi had the misfortune of going through them as a child himself.

Naruto and Sasuke however, having less contact with other genin, had no idea. While Naruto was oblivious to Sakura and Kakashi's amusement, Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

* * *

Naruto's eyes twitched. The Hokage was holding out the mission scroll in amusement.

"WHAT?!" Naruto couldn't take it anymore, "This has got to be some kind of joke! Grocery shopping?! What happened to saving countries from evil overlords?!"

"Well," The Hokage drawled patronizingly, "There currently aren't any evil overlords that I know of, but there IS someone in need of groceries."

Naruto grumbled a bit, but there was little he could do. Kakashi accepted the mission scroll, knowing full well his cheerful demeanour only served to make his genin more annoyed.

* * *

**A month and about 10 D-rank missions later…**

They were currently on their eleventh D-rank - plowing the fields of some lazy farmer on the outskirts of Konoha. Sasuke was doing the work quietly, however Sakura and Naruto were grumbling the entire time. Kakashi was sitting languidly on a nearby tree, reading his porn.

Sasuke and Sakura, however, were thinking of the reactions that they had gotten out of the villagers when they showed up for D-ranks. While they knew some of the villagers were intimidated by the idea of shinobi, some people had looked at their team – in particular their blond teammate – with fear. If Sasuke looked closely, some of them showed outright loathing at Naruto.

Naruto never seemed to notice though; or if he did, he never showed it. This last D-rank really highlighted the treatment that Naruto seemed to have to endure however. The farmer that owned this plot of land had actually spent a good minute verbally abusing the blond before being shut up by liberal application of killing intent from Kakashi.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura said suddenly, "Why do the villagers treat you like that? Like you're some sort of monster?"

Kakashi, listening to the conversation from the tree, had to cringe at her choice of wording. He couldn't fault her though, it _was_ the most apt description.

"Pranks maybe?" Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I must have pranked him some time or another…"

"Don't lie Naruto," It was in fact Sasuke that spoke up this time, "He didn't even recognize you before he was told your name, and you're not exactly hard to forget."

Sasuke's sharingan eyes flashed dangerously. It would be impossible to continue lying at this point against those eyes, having been taught how to read body language from Kakashi with his sharingan.

Naruto went silent, while the rest of him continued to plow the fields, they could see that his mind wasn't in it. In fact, the fact that he was silent at all was unnerving to his teammates. Just a few minutes ago, he was loudly cursing the very idea of D-rank missions. He was silent for so long that Sasuke and Sakura were about to repeat their question, when Naruto spoke up.

"I…. There is a reason…" Naruto starting haltingly, he seemed to gather himself for a moment before leaning on his plow, his gaze never fixated on the ground between him and his team, "Twelve years ago, you were told that the Kyūbi attacked Konoha, only to be beaten and killed by the Yondaime Hokage."

Sakura and Sasuke were confused, this was old news. They picked up on the implications though.

"You were lied to." Naruto stated bluntly, "You were told this version of the story to protect the secret of what really happened, and in extension me. I was born on the same day that the Kyūbi attacked Konoha. The Yondaime couldn't kill the Kyūbi – you can't kill a Bijuu – and so he did the only thing he could to stop it, he sealed the Kyūbi away inside a newborn baby."

The genins' eyes widened as the truth hit them.

"That baby was me." Naruto continued, "Due to a combination of factors, including the fact that only a child's chakra coils can adapt to a Bijuu, I was chosen to hold the Kyūbi."

Naruto's eyes darkened as he continued, "Unfortunately, many of the more ignorant people see me as the Kyūbi itself, or maybe people are just fearful of the idea that a gargantuan chakra monster is sealed inside my gut. Who know? Point is, my situation hasn't exactly won me any popularity contests."

Kakashi chose this moment to appear next to them on the ground.

"You know, the Hokage enacted the secrecy law for the sole purpose of protecting you Naruto," Kakashi said solemnly, "The fact that you're a jinchuuriki is well known, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was known to people outside Konoha as well. He hoped you would be able to make friends among your generation."

"Jinchuuriki?" Sakura asked.

"The power of human sacrifice," Naruto responded before Kakashi could, "We're generally weapons for our respective countries. I guess I was lucky the Hokage is so nice, instead of training me as soon as I could walk, I was given the chance to become a shinobi normally."

The team was silent for a minute. Naruto was almost holding his breath in anticipation, and Kakashi was silently sizing up Sakura and Sasuke's reactions.

"So?" Naruto asked tentatively, "If you want, you can request a team change…"

"Don't be an idiot Naruto," Sakura replied, "It was out of your control, and I can't really hate you for something like that."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke hopefully.

"Tch, like I could be afraid of such and idiot," He said, with a small smirk on his face.

Kakashi smiled at his team, his facial expression hidden by his mask. His team was growing closer every day, and at this moment he truly thought that the team could eventually eclipse the Sannin.

* * *

**That night, in the Hokage's office…**

"Kakashi-kun," The Hokage said after his debriefing, "How combat ready is your team?"

"That's hard to say…" he said tentatively, "Individually, they should be able to hold their own against an average chunin by this point, they're all very talented." He paused for a moment, "As a team however they're incredible. Sasuke and Naruto have a small rivalry going, and they're always sparring. While Sakura has the ability to keep them healthy on longer missions. I'd say against a team of equivalent chunin they'd win."

"Have you started Naruto on any jinchuuriki training yet?" The Hokage asked after thinking about what Kakashi said.

"No, but he hasn't shown any inclination that he can even use that chakra," Kakashi stated, "We'll never know until he's pushed into a desperate situation. I've activated Sasuke's sharingan and I'll teach him how to supress the Kyūbi's chakra eventually, but I don't think he'll be able to before they're adults."

The Hokage seemed deep in thought for a moment.

"How skilled is your team at infiltration?" The Hokage asked suddenly.

"Infiltration?" Kakashi asked, "It was taught at the academy, and I've taught them a few things, but it isn't something we concentrated on… They ARE a heavy assault team. Naruto seems to be a natural at acting though, which is strange considering his typical behaviour, but all of them are passable."

"I see…" The Hokage seemed to ponder this for a second, "Alright then. I'm sending your team on an infiltration mission, B-ranked. There have been reports of children being kidnapped in a small town near the border between Konoha and Kiri."

"Isn't that a bit dangerous for relatively new genin?" Kakashi was regretting his earlier bragging, "I mean, they're skilled genin, but they're still genin."

"What will you have me do Kakashi-kun?" The Hokage said tiredly, "Whoever is kidnapping these children cover their tracks too well, and all our spies have been unable to track them. All we've been able to find is that they seem to only take children between the ages of 8-13."

"Bait…" Kakashi said quietly, "You're going to use my team as bait…"

"Yes," The Hokage said solemnly, "I need a team that's young enough for them to be interested. In fact, out of all the genin teams we have that are young enough, your team is the only one strong enough to get out of there alive if need be."

"What about Gai's team?" Kakashi asked desperately, "Their team should still be stronger than ours right?"

"Neji's Byakugan is hard to hide for long term infiltration," The Hokage replied, "And Lee is wholly unsuited to infiltration."

Kakashi grasped around desperately, he could find no fault in the Hokage's decision however. Defeated, he looked at the Hokage in resignation.

"When do we have to go?" he asked.

"Well, the timeframe is still iffy, we can have agents stationed there within a week, maybe two." The Hokage said tiredly, "You will of course be stationed with these agents, and your genin will be equipped with tracking seals of all kinds. Naruto should be able to create a seal to help us track them if they're desperate."

"Is there anything else Hokage-sama," Kakashi asked after a short silence, "I need to go train my team for the next two weeks."

"No," he replied, "You are dismissed. Bring them in for a briefing tomorrow morning. We will go over some things that they need to learn in the next couple of weeks."

As Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, the Hokage looked tiredly at the village behind him. This was the worst part about being Hokage, sending out shinobi to what could be their deaths. Even worse, he had no choice but to send fresh-out-of-the-academy genin, essentially children, into a potentially hostile situation. He just hoped that Kakashi could keep them safe.

* * *

**A.N. Man, writers block for a while there… this chapter mainly focuses more on their development as a team, and as individuals. Writing the Kyubi reveal was kind of hard for me, and I don't think I did the best job on it. **

**A completely unique (at least I think it is, I know I haven't read anything like it) multi-chapter arc is starting next chapter: Infiltration. This should be interesting to write (and I hope to read as well)!**

**Please, let me know in the comments whether you like it, don't like it, think my writing needs work, etc etc. I'm mainly writing these stories as a distraction to studying, and to improve my writing skills overall.**


	4. Chapter 4 - Contact

Chapter 4- Infiltration

Naruto twisted, letting Sasuke's fist hit the air above him. Waving his hand, he unsealed and willed a card upwards just missing his opponent, who had stepped back. Rushing in again, Sasuke attempted an axe kick from above only to miss by a hairsbreadth, and was forced to dodge out of the way of an onslaught of blunted cards.

Naruto readied himself to go on the offense. Crossing his fingers in a unique cross seal, he called out the name of his new jutsu.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Ten solid clones sprung into existence, and each grabbed a few cards with their chakra to charge their opponent.

Sasuke grit his teeth. This new jutsu of Naruto's was exceedingly annoying, and was something only Naruto could use trivially due to his jinchuuriki status. As his hands crackled with lightning chakra, he weaved through the clones and their cards, decimating them with well-aimed punches and kicks.

As he destroyed the last one, he groaned internally at what Naruto had been stalling for. With no time to mount a counterattack or even kawarimi away, be braced himself.

"**Card Storm Barrage!"**

Naruto held his hands out in front of him as an ungodly amount of blunted cards flew out of his hands and hurled towards Sasuke's position. This was a taxing move to use, as it required Naruto to charge each and every one of these cards as they were unsealed, and took his utmost concentration to control all at once.

While being pelted by blunted cards wasn't lethal, Sasuke was nonetheless in pain as he was swept up and thrown against a nearby tree. He supposed that if this had been a real battle, his corpse would have been unrecognizable after taking the full brunt of this move, so he could count himself lucky in that regard in the very least.

Naruto whooped in joy, he had been practicing that jutsu for a while, and this was the first chance he got to use it in a spar. As Sasuke pried himself off the ground, he spied the still dancing Naruto.

"You know, I still have more wins than you." Sasuke grumbled.

"Yeah yeah," Naruto answered cheekily, "Don't get your panties in a twist."

"So are you guys going to go another round?" Sakura asked. She was sitting on a nearby branch, having already gotten the tree climbing exercise done a few days ago, "If not, I want to try some of the new first aid techniques I learned on you two."

Sasuke and Naruto started panicking. Sakura already burnt off a portion of Sasuke's eyebrows the other day, and neither of them wanted to test her hastily learnt techniques so early.

"You know," Naruto said nervously, "As a jinchuuriki, I have amazing regenerative abilities… so why don't you try on Sasuke instead, he'll need it more!"

Sasuke gave Naruto a dirty look. He didn't know if what Naruto was saying was true, but Naruto DID recover from fatigue in a shockingly short amount of time, so it wasn't that farfetched.

"Alright then, Sasuke?" Sakura flashed through a few hand-seals, and her hands lit up with a soft green glow, "Where first?" Sakura was looking positively gleeful at a potential test subject.

Sasuke looked frantically for an escape only to find that Naruto had somehow disappeared. Resigning himself to his fate, he silently cursed the blond.

* * *

The team was winding down from a hard day's training. Normally genin weren't introduced to elemental chakra, taught forbidden kinjutsu, or even taught medical jutsu. The briefing they had with the Hokage almost a week ago had caused Kakashi to kick up their training into high gear.

Sasuke, being unnaturally talented, somehow managed to pick up the beginning steps for lightning manipulation, making his jutsu much more efficient and deadly. He also managed to upgrade his sharingan to two tomoe in each eye, after an intense sparring session with Kakashi.

Kakashi taught Naruto the kage bunshin, having deduced that with his enormous chakra reserves, he could make good use of it. The kage bunshin was a good spying and escape jutsu, and with Naruto's ability to use them on a whim, he managed to integrate it into his unpredictable fighting style.

Sakura was signed up for an emergency first aid course, essentially a crash course on 'How to Keep Your Team Alive'. Technically, she wasn't ready for the course. However Kakashi's name carried a lot of weight in Konoha, and with the team going on such a potentially dangerous mission, he had to make sure that they would be kept healthy.

Kakashi had to admit it, his team was incredibly talented, but he was worried. It wasn't often that a team barely two months out of the academy was sent on such a high risk mission. Outside of wartime, it just wasn't done. Granted, his team would be getting a whole team of shinobi as backup, but in the end it was HIS team in the line of fire.

For the last week after the briefing, the Hokage had given them a list of skills that they had to learn, as well as assigning a teacher to go over some supplementary lessons on infiltration. In fact, the team had been ecstatic about the extra training, especially when they were told what the training was for…

* * *

**Flashback to last week, debriefing in the Hokage tower…**

_"Your team is to infiltrate a small town as orphans, in such a poor town, three more orphans won't be very surprising," The Hokage said to team 7, "Your cover won't hold up under careful scrutiny, though we should be able to provide a suitable backstory if push comes to shove."_

_The Hokage puffed on his pipe, gauging the three genins' reactions. Sasuke and Naruto seemed to be interested, while Sakura looked apprehensive._

_"You're going there to investigate a number of disappearances of children as young as 8." The Hokage continued, "This will be a B-ranked mission, due to the risks involved. If all goes as planned, you three should be kidnapped as well. Naturally, we will be loading you three with tracking tags, and once we find their base of operations, we will be breaking you three out. Our mission coordinators will be going over the details with you in a few days. Are there any questions?"_

_Naruto was naturally the first to speak up, "Hey, Hey, why us? I mean, I know we're awesome and all, but wouldn't this be better done with more experienced people?"_

_"Well," The Hokage replied, "A number of reasons actually. You three are very capable genin for one," Naruto beamed at this, and Sasuke smirked, "you're also one of the only teams both young enough and sane enough."_

_"Sane?" It was Sakura's turn to speak up at this, "What exactly do you mean by sane Hokage-sama?"_

_"Eccentric. For lack of a better word," The Hokage looked resigned, "Most shinobi, after a while, develop a quirk in their personality. The only other team that is suitable for this mission has an…eccentric… jounin sensei, and unfortunately some of his personality passed onto his genin."_

_Team 7 looked warily at their sensei, who was standing beside them, shamelessly reading porn and giggling while being debriefed. _

_"Yes," The Hokage said, amusement plain on his face, "Exactly like that."_

**Flashback end…**

* * *

**A week later…**

Team 7, minus their jounin sensei, was currently being fussed over by a makeup artist. Naruto and Sakura needed some work making their looks blend into the background. For one, Naruto had to lose the horrid orange jumpsuit, after much protesting of course.

Both Naruto and Sakura needed some hair dye and was taught a low level variant of the henge to keep their appearance. However Naruto needed a further variation designed to hide scars to hide away his whisker marks. Naruto was actually unable to do the jutsu, due to the miniscule chakra requirements, so he would have to rely on his teammates to do it for him.

As they finished, they left towards the main gates, avoiding the more populated parts of Konoha. They would have to be discreet, on the very small chance that whatever operation they were infiltrating had spies in Konoha.

The entire operation consisted of team 7 and 3 chunin shinobi, all lead by Kakashi. While they weren't going to have much contact with the 3 chunin during the mission, the fact that so many shinobi would be on this mission drove home how dangerous it might be to team 7.

The three chunin in question were Inuzuka Hana, Kamizuki Izumo, and his partner Hagane Kotetsu. Kakashi had to admit they were a good combination for this mission, as Hana was tracker as well as a competent medic-nin, and the other two chunin could provide the necessary muscle to get out of any dangerous situations alive.

The genin would all be fitted with flesh coloured pads that would go over the front of their throats. Designed to be long term, the pads had seals on them that would transfer whatever they spoke to the mission controllers, as the rest of the team was called.

They were also outfitted with another flesh coloured pad that they could place anywhere on their body. These would be used to transmit coded signals over a short distance. So as long as team 7 remained within 50 kilometres from where they were stationed, mission control could send messages to them.

Of course, the equipment was on top of the multiple tracking seals that they had placed discreetly on their clothes, pads, and even shoes. Kakashi had been adamant about this, if things went south, he wanted to be able to find his genin.

As far as weapons went, Naruto was the only one who could carry his entire arsenal. He had almost a thousand cards of different varieties ready to be unsealed at a moment's notice. On the other hand, Sakura and Sasuke would have to make do without their kunai and shuriken. While they were proficient in combat without them, they felt naked without the weight in their pouches.

Iruka and the Hokage had even come to see the team off. Iruka had heard of the trip from Naruto (to the chagrin of the Hokage), and was naturally worried. Sending fresh genin off to a B-rank mission, what was the Hokage thinking?

"Do you have everything Naruto?" Iruka asked, "Weapons? Supplies?"

"Don't worry Iruka sensei," Naruto gave him a cheeky grin, "I'll be fine, I haven't made Hokage yet after all."

Iruka gave a pained grin, "Of course, just…. Stay safe alright?"

"Alright." The Hokage took command of the situation, "Remember, the first priority is your safety, Konoha will not lose any shinobi on this mission. Am I clear?"

"**Hai Hokage-sama**" 7 voices replied in unison.

"Very well. Good luck." and with that, the team disappeared into the forest behind them.

* * *

"Halt." Kakashi's voice rang out. They had been setting a relatively relaxed pace for shinobi, to get the genin used to long stretches of tree hopping.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"We're nearing the town now." Kakashi said, "We'll need to make it to the town mayor's house under cover, can't have you being seen before we're ready to start."

The team transformed into nondescript civilians. The disguise wouldn't hold under careful scrutiny, but they could use it to get to the mayor's house unmolested. The genin and Kakashi set off, while the chunin went over to where they would set up mission control, in an abandoned house on the outskirts of town.

* * *

"Thank god you're here," the mayor said, as the shinobi entered his office, "I'm at the end of my rope, and the rumours are getting out of control!"

"Don't worry," Kakashi said, placating him, "I trust you have everything ready?"

"Yes, the matron's are informed of the… children… you're sending," The man was obviously uncomfortable about the idea of using the genin, "Are you absolutely sure this is a good idea?"

"My genin are capable shinobi Taichi-san, don't underestimate them" Kakashi said mildly, though there was an undercurrent of rebuke in his tone.

"Of course, of course," He replied quickly, he quickly changed the subject, "So when can we start?"

"We'll stage the house fire tonight, the shinobi will 'die' in the fire, and his three cute little nephews and niece will be left without a guardian," Kakashi stopped to fake a sniffle, much to the amusement of his genin, "and they'll be sent to the orphanage, where they'll be left alone in a cruel, cruel world."

"Err," Taichi looked nervously at Sasuke, who was the most composed out of all of them, "Is he always like this?"

"… Unfortunately."

"Ah… I see," he chuckled nervously, "and how will you convince people that you're grieving your 'uncle's' death?"

"Not to worry," Kakashi replied, "Naruto and Sakura can cry on demand!"

"…" Taichi watched as the two genin mentioned started to sniffle, while Sasuke stood resolutely to the side, refusing to lower himself to crying for sympathy points.

"That's… both amazing and scary…" he was being hit with a double helping of crying, wide eyed children, and he had to consciously stop his first reaction to comfort them. "What about the third kid?"

"He has a killer glare." Kakashi replied cheerfully. Sasuke chose that moment glare at his sensei, only to get an understanding nod from the rotund mayor. This earned the mayor a glare of his own.

"Well then, I see no reason to waste time," Taichi seemed to want to get this over quickly, "Why don't we go and discuss the finer logistics and prepare the house fire then shall we?"

* * *

The three genin were standing outside the orphanage, being 'escorted' by the matron. They looked suitably sad as Naruto and Sakura managed to make their eyes puffy, while Sasuke managed to turn on his patented Brooding™ that made him so popular in the academy.

"Alright, here we are," The matron said kindly, "Why don't I show you around, the orphanage can be an intimidating place in the beginning, but in time I hope you three will think of us as family!" The matron seemed perfectly friendly, but as shinobi, they could tell it was a thinly veiled act for anybody watching.

"Thank you Masuyo-san," Naruto said 'gratefully', "We'd appreciate that."

As the genin were being shown around, they picked up on the general atmosphere in the orphanage. While it wasn't very well known that children were being systematically kidnapped, the kids in the orphanage seemed to exude a sense of fear. Some looked as if they had given up.

The matron led them through to the dorms, where they would be split based on gender. The building looked and felt, for lack of a better term, desolate. Most of this was due to the general mood from the children. The matron pretended not to notice, only keeping a painfully cheerful visage.

Naruto was torn. A part of him wanted to inject some livelihood into this place, maybe prank a few people to lighten them up. They were instructed, however, to keep themselves distant. This would make them less noticeable and less likely to be missed should they be kidnapped, which in turn _raised_ the chances of being kidnapped. It was all very confusing to Naruto, but he nonetheless followed orders.

* * *

They had been living in the orphanage for a week now, and there was still no sign of the mystery kidnapper. The genin were at their wits end, and they resigned themselves to another boring mission. It seemed to them that while it was B-ranked on paper, it was actually just a cleverly disguised D-rank.

"Maaan," Naruto complained quietly, "There's nothing to do here… are we supposed to just wait until something happens?"

"Idiot. Were you paying attention at all during the briefing?" Sakura berated him quietly, "We're supposed to ask around for anything suspicious. Kids talk more to other kids, and it's not like we can just send them to T&amp;I."

"I can't just go around making friends like I did back at the academy," Naruto replied, "We're supposed to be mourning…"

"Meh, that's your job Naruto," Sakura smirked, "You're the best at making friends, and it's not like anyone here knows about your furry little problem."

"Oi, that's a serious matter," the jinchuuriki groused, "you can't just call it a 'furry little problem'"

"We're wasting time." Sasuke appeared out of nowhere, "Aren't you supposed to be making friends right about now?"

"Gah, why me?" Naruto complained again, "Fine, give me a sec."

Sasuke and Sakura watched as Naruto walked a small distance away, towards a lonely looking boy around their age.

"Heh, and that's how you get Naruto to do the annoying parts." Sakura seemed pleased at this.

"You know," Sasuke said quietly, "mission control heard that entire conversation…"

"… Dammit"

Naruto seemed to be able to make some new friends, and introduced them to Sasuke and Sakura. Many were hesitant to talk to them at first, but not many of them could stand to Naruto's infectious moods.

"You know, you guys have to be careful," One of them had said, "There's been rumours that us kids have been taken by someone. The matrons keep telling us that they've been adopted, but my friends and I promised each other that we would keep up with each other."

"So they're covering it up?" Naruto pretended to look appalled.

"Yeah, that's what we think." The boy replied. "Don't want to cause a panic or something."

* * *

The three undercover genin made it a point to stay up as late as possible without violating their curfew. This was partly due to the fact that it would make them easier prey, and partly because it they couldn't stand the general atmosphere in the orphanage.

It was during one of these late night escapades that they could feel themselves being watched. It was miniscule, almost undetectable, and if they weren't the target they probably wouldn't have noticed it either. They instantly knew that the people responsible for the disappearances were skilled.

"Contact," Naruto said softly, mainly for the benefit of mission control.

Then suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck, and everything went black.

* * *

Naruto woke up first. Unfortunately, waking up after being knocked out wasn't the most comfortable feeling. He sat up and looked around, only to find himself shackled to the ground.

Spying his teammates still unconscious next to him, he started to nudge them none too gently in an effort to get them awake.

"Nggh," Sakura groaned, "I'm up, I'm up."

"What happened?" Sasuke seemed to be much more composed as he woke up.

"Well," Naruto said slowly, "We seem to be on a ship."

"Thank you for that brilliant deduction." Sakura said flatly, shaking off her grogginess.

"We shouldn't be." Sasuke replied quietly, "All our intelligence pointed to-"

"Shhh! Not here!"

They sat in silence for a few minutes, not sensing their captors anywhere near them. Naruto spent his time examining the cuffs, and looking for a way to break out of them if they needed to. Biting his thumb to draw blood, he started to carefully inscribe a weak explosive seal onto a link in the chain.

Just as he was finishing up, the three genin heard a door creaking open a few feet from their cell. A man walked in, opening up the relatively dark cell to the blinding sunlight.

"Well well," He said smugly, "I thought you three were a little too healthy for civilian kids."

The three genin tensed as the man brought his right hand into a half ram seal. Suddenly, they felt a searing pain burst through their skull, blocking out all other sensation. As they recovered from the pain, they could start to make out more of the man's features.

"So tell me," he said as he cut the chakra to his technique. He walked closer to the cell, his Kiri hitai-ate now clear on his forehead. "What are Konoha shinobi doing all the way out here?"

**A/N**

**Sorry if this chapter is a little bit choppy… wrote it in bits and pieces during exams, so not my best work…**


	5. Chapter 5 - Rescue?

Chapter 5 – Rescue?

Kakashi was worried.

Scratch that, he moved right past worried and went straight to pissed. Tracking tags, those damned tracking tags. How did they find them? How did they keep it charged long enough to throw him off? And how did they find ALL of them?

The chuunins were looking at Kakashi worriedly. He had been mumbling to himself for a few minutes after they found the (goddamned) tracking tags, and yet didn't find them attached to the corresponding genin.

"Taichou?" Kotetsu asked tentatively.

"WHAT?" Kakashi snapped.

"Shouldn't we be tracking them?" he asked. They had been examining the clearing where they found the tags haphazardly thrown about. "They're getting farther and farther away…"

"Alright." Kakashi took a deep breath, "Alright. Minor setback. **Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

A pack of dogs appeared in a cloud of smoke. Wordlessly, he handed the pack a few articles of clothing that had belonged to his genin, and sensing the mood, the dogs didn't protest. With a short nod, Kakashi dismissed them, and they set off running towards the east.

* * *

**Back on the ship…**

The three genin were panting from the strain. They clutched their foreheads in abject pain, unable to focus on anything at all.

"So tell me," the now identified Kiri-nin asked, "What are Konoha shinobi doing all the way out here?"

"Go…. Fuck…. Yourself…." Naruto said through gritted teeth.

"Tch, I can do this all day," the man shot back. Setting his hand back into a half ram, he pushed even more chakra into his technique.

"AARRGG!"

"Now, let me ask you one more time," he stepped forward, "What are you three doing here?"

When they remained silent, he continued. "You know, your team isn't coming to save you. All those tracking tags? Gone. Your transmitters? Gone as well. Scent? We're halfway to Kiri already, and there's no way they'll be able to follow you in, not without starting a war."

He let the genin contemplate that while he watched them impassively and gauged their reactions. The loud one was currently groaning on the ground, still looking defiant. The gloomy looking one was giving him an icy glare, and the girl was looking panicked, clutching her forehead.

"Well, I could always just keep doing this…"

"WAIT… wait." Sakura said through gritted teeth, "Alright, we were investigating disappearances in the town, we were under the impression it was an underground slave ring, not a hidden village."

"What are you doing?!" Naruto yelled at her.

"I'm saving our asses!" she yelled back, "We have nothing to lose, he already knows we're shinobi."

The man watched on, quirking a smile at their dissent. He wasn't sure who was going to break first, but he was nonetheless pleased that it had happened so quickly.

"There… was that so hard?" he said smugly, "Well you'll be happy to note you'll find all the missing kids. In fact, you're going to join them!"

"Join them?" Sakura asked with a quiet voice.

"Indeed." He said arrogantly, "you see, we've been short on willing soldiers in our civil war lately, and conscripting from our own country would be counterproductive to moral. So why not take from the surrounding villages? As long as we were discreet, we would have a good amount of new blood to fill our ranks every year."

"Why the hell would we fight for YOU?" Naruto growled out.

"Well…" he shot another burst of chakra into the seal on their foreheads. "You don't have a choice."

* * *

Now, Naruto usually wasn't one to panic. How could he? He was going to be Hokage one day dammit, Hokages didn't panic. His friends were in trouble though. _His friends._ People who had accepted him. He could count out those people with his hands.

He attempted to unseal a card and maybe send it through the smug man's neck. With a flick of his and a pulse of chakra…. Nothing….

"Oh?" their captive asked, "what was that supposed to be?"

Naruto clenched his teeth. Unfortunately, the flick of his wrist was just about all he was physically capable of. In fact, he was the best off out of the genin, Sasuke and Sakura were barely conscious at this point.

"Anyways, I got what I was coming for," the man said, "Do make yourselves comfortable."

"Wait!" Naruto said weakly, "How did you know we were shinobi?"

"It's not hard," the man chuckled, "originally, I didn't know, I actually thought you were typical children when I caught you three. Your tracking tags gave it away though. If I didn't practise fuuinjutsu myself, I wouldn't have known what they were at all."

The Kiri nin walked out, apparently satisfied by their answers. He he needed them meek – in other words – pliant. Dissent among soldiers was a major problem in the civil war, as many people thought the clan purges were inhumane. He didn't care either way, as he didn't possess a bloodline, and the war paid well.

* * *

"Do you know how rare fuuinjutsu users are?"

It was a little while after their little… chat… with the Kiri nin. Naruto, unable to sit still, kept bothering his teammates until they woke, much to their chagrin.

"So? I fail to see how this is a problem…" Sakura responded, Sasuke sat quietly to the side, muttering darkly under his breath about revenge.

"Not a problem?" Naruto asked incredulously, "Seals are pretty goddamned dangerous! There are seals out there that can rip holes through RE-AL-I-TY! And we've got one that can likely kill us on our foreheads!"

"Can't you break it or something?" Sakura asked, wide eyed.

"Break it?" Naruto started to giggle hysterically, "Right, of course. I'm going to use my magical fuuinjutsu powers, splatter some blood on your foreheads, and _bam_! Instant headache cure!"

He stopped laughing after an uncomfortable few seconds.

"ahh….. Even if he happened to leave some holes in his seal structure, what am I going to use to break it?" Naruto shrugged uselessly, "Did you see when I tried to kill the guy? Our chakra control is shot to hell by the same seals on our foreheads. I don't know how we're going to become soldiers for their little war, but either we're going to be crappy soldiers, or suicide bombers."

If it was possible, the mood grew even more somber in their cell. Sasuke seemed to be visibly struggling with something. He was staring intently at the lock on their door, silently trying to will his eyes to activate.

"What are you doing anyways Sasuke?" Naruto asked curiously, "You can't activate your sharingan at the moment, and even if you could… I mean… they give you predictive powers, and you can see chakra, not break metal…"

Sasuke gave him a cold stare, the gazed back at the lock and mumbled something.

"What?"

"… I heard new powers come out if I wish hard enough…" Sasuke grumbled out, apparently embarrassed.

"…." Sakura started to giggle a little.

"To be fair, it is said that Uchiha Madara fought the First Hokage with a giant ethereal warrior," Sasuke said petulantly. "And for some reason, that's part of the bloodline…"

"That aside," Sakura seemed to feel a little better, "If Naruto can't break the seal, how are we getting out? That man can disable us with hardly a gesture."

"Do any of you know how to walk on water?" Sasuke asked, "I don't, and even if we get these seals off, I doubt we could learn it in time to get off this ship."

"So any escape plans will have to hold off until we get to land at least…" Sakura mused. The genin were silent for a moment.

"Hey," Naruto said suddenly, "is the seal visible on my forehead right now?"

"Yeah, it is actually… doesn't that only happen when he's activating it?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I guess it happens when I try to channel chakra too," Naruto said absentmindedly. "Hey Sasuke, could you mold some chakra continuously for a little while? I wanna check something out."

"What happened to not knowing how to get it off?" Sakura asked, "I thought it was beyond you?"

"Well," Naruto said disgruntled, "I may as well try, it's not like we have anything better to do."

"Where are you going to get the chakra to break the seal?" Sasuke asked as Naruto stared at his forehead, "I assume some modicum of chakra control is still needed for fuuinjutsu."

"You're not wrong…" Naruto said, he wasn't really paying attention. He was staring intently at the seal structure visible on Sasuke's forehead, and he began to mumble to himself absentmindedly.

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged looks. They had seen Naruto like this before. During their team training sometimes, when taking a break, Naruto would often pull out a notebook, mumbling incoherently and taking notes.

Sakura huffed and sat back down. It was difficult at the best of times to get a response out of Naruto when he was like this. She honestly had a better chance of getting Sasuke to crack a smile.

"Fuuinjutsu user my ass." Naruto said vehemently, after a few minutes of mumbling, "More like thief, or pretender." At this point, Naruto's words almost came out as a growl. He looked away from the seal on Sasuke's forehead and started pacing furiously.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Somehow, the seal is unmistakably derived from Uzumaki designs," Naruto said angrily, "Damn them, I'm being held captive by my own families' seal."

"How can you tell?" Sakura asked curiously, "Is the writing is faml-"

"Who cares," Sasuke cut in with a scowl on his face, "what I want to know is can you get rid of it?"

"…. Probably." Naruto ground out slowly, "Uzumaki seals are unusually finicky. If you don't know what you're doing, the seal can be notoriously unstable…"

"Then why are the seals so famous?" Sakura asked, ignoring the caustic glare Sasuke sent her way, "They seem weaker if that's the case."

"Well," Naruto visibly calmed down as he prepared to explain, "Uzumaki seals are less procedural and more of an art. I think the best way to describe this would be that modern fuuinjutsu practitioners teach by breaking up seals into parts. This part does one thing, it inputs and outputs chakra into another part, and so on and so forth. This makes the seal more…. Portable… easier to teach and easier to modify, for example if I wanted to change the timing on an explosive seal, I look for that specific part of the seal."

The genin-turned-lecturer looked around and tried to sense for any presences other than their own.

"You have to take Uzumaki seals as more of a whole. Each seal we do is free-form, every part of the seal blends together into one working system; I can't just pull out a part of it and modify it if I didn't know the seal intimately. This has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that our seals are much MUCH stronger, as each part blends together without gaps in the flow, but it is incredibly hard to teach."

They shared a moment of silence.

"So why did you say you might be able to break the seal?" Sakura asked.

"Because he sucks at our style." Naruto said with a grin, "He left gaps in the original seal, probably has no idea too. All I have to do is destabilize the seal with a little blood, and we could probably break out in a few minutes of struggle."

Sasuke looked at him for a second and smirked. "So all you're going to do is use a little fuuinjutsu magic, splatter a bit of blood on our foreheads, and instant headache cure?"

"… Yes…"Naruto ground out, heat rising to his cheeks. Sakura giggled as Naruto looked away in faint embarrassment.

* * *

"We're nearing land."

They had been traveling for another day, and finally, after being cooped in the cell with just water and the occasional piece of bread for sustenance, they were ready to break free. Naruto had modified each of the seals slightly with his blood, not enough to be noticeable at a distance, but if their captive looked too closely he would know.

As they were led out onto a deserted dock, they started to pulse their chakra. Little by little, the seal loosened. They were herded out towards an old, prison like building, one that looked like it had seen better days. Pockmarks could be seen dotted along the walls, likely remnants of recent battles too close to the structure.

Naruto, having the most potent chakra, was the farthest along with his seal. If the Kiri nin was paying attention he would have seen the seal glowing a sickly red. With a quiet grunt of exertion and a faint sizzling, Naruto was the first to break out of his seal.

He continued walking as if nothing had happened, pulsing his chakra and remembering the comforting feeling of it responding to his whims. Spying out of the corner of his eyes, he saw that Sasuke's seal was close to breaking. With a slight sizzle, quieter than Naruto's clumsy attempts, his seal fizzled out of existence.

Sakura was having the most trouble with her seal. Given that she came from a civilian family, it was really no surprise, but they didn't have the luxury of time. With a quiet grunt of exertion, she broke her seal, emitting a barely audible hiss.

That was the signal. Both Naruto and Sasuke had been watching and waiting for Sakura's seal to fizzle out. Taking no chances, Naruto immediately released hundreds of razor sharp cards into the air around them, swirling around like a swarm of angry hornets.

They almost caught the Kiri nin. With a curse and a jump backwards, the Kiri nin quickly regained his footing, immediately releasing a few shuriken at the genin while his left hand went to the seal that caused them so much pain.

"Heh," Naruto saw the man's panic when it didn't work, and spat out, "Idiot. Don't try to copy Uzumaki seals, they're mine."

With that quip, he hurled a veritable wave of cards towards him, with the pent up frustration and pain of the last few days on his mind. The wave carved deep gouges into the ground, kicking up dust and obscuring Sasuke and Sakura's movements.

They took the chance to run and hide, ready to ambush their former captor when given the chance.

**Suiton: Mizurappa**

The technique and cards clashed, neither giving any ground. Naruto started to rapidly spin the cards, destroying the techniques coherency before it reached him, rendering it little more than light splashes of water.

Waving his hands like a frenzied conductor, Naruto commanded the cards to swing around and flank the older shinobi, forcing him to end the technique and dodge the fast and deceptively deadly projectiles.

Releasing even more cards towards their former captor, Naruto kicked up the pace. He was nearing the limit of his concentration, as controlling so many cards was pushing the boundaries of his skill. He quickly mixed explosive cards into the swarm, exploding them randomly and forcing the Kiri nin towards Sasuke.

"Tch, uppity genin," the Kiri nin snarled, "what exactly gave you the bright idea you could go head to head with a jounin?" With that, he sent a blast of water careening to Sasuke's position, who was forced to dodge.

Naruto was forced to call off his attack as Sasuke came out into the open, unwilling to risk injuring his teammate. The Kiri nin grinned and flashed through hand-seals with all the speed of a seasoned jounin.

"You know, seals weren't the only thing I managed to steal from the Uzumaki" He dashed towards the water bordering their battlefield, standing on top of it like it was second nature.

**Uzumaki Hijutsu: Suiryūdan no Jutsu**

It wasn't what the genin expected however, typically dragon jutsu were straight shots that were almost impossible to defend from, however the dragon that reared its head at the Kiri nin's command seemed content to curl itself around its creator.

Contrary to most elemental dragons, the one called to life by the Kiri nin was animated. To the genin, it seemed almost lifelike in its movements and mannerisms. With a roar, it curled itself protectively around its creator.

"Like it?" the jounin asked, as his confident gaze found Naruto's wide eyes, "You, you said you were Uzumaki?"

"More so than you," Naruto managed to retort, eyes still riveted on the strangely lifelike dragon, "what is it to you?"

The jounin was holding an unrecognizable seal steady in his hands, focusing as the dragon continued to protect him from the cards that Naruto sent his way.

"Don't you recognize it?" the jounin taunted, "This jutsu was an Uzumaki invention, of course, its Kiri's now."

"What do you mean?" Naruto said distractedly, both he and Sasuke continued to batter the dragon with jutsu and cards, but to no effect.

"You never wondered? You're a dying breed Uzumaki," he said, "Konoha was one of Uzushio greatest allies, at the very least it should have preserved their relics after the Fall"

That got Naruto's attention, apart from a basic primer detailing the Uzumaki sealing techniques, and an odd scroll with some obscure theories he barely made heads or tails of, he was quite poor in the way of Uzumaki relics.

"Pay attention idiot," Sasuke hissed quietly, keeping up the barrage where Naruto faltered, "Sakura's working on an opening, wait for her signal."

"One of Konoha's greatest failures," the jounin continued, "Kiri managed to claim the lion's share of techniques after the Fall, and you get to taste one of the Uzushio's signature techniques."

The Kiri nin flared his chakra, and the dragon blasted open from its previously coiled position, brushing aside Naruto's distracted cards and Sasuke's slowly weakening efforts. With a roar that was somehow more deafening than the last, it lunged forwards, leaving behind deep gouges where it bounded from the ground.

The two boys needed no prompting, quickly vacating their previous spot in opposite directions. It was an elementary but effective tactic, to split enemy attention and try to land a counterattack. The dragon wasn't discouraged however, and kept up the chase. Unfortunately for Sasuke it seemed he was on the menu.

Naruto cursed and sent a wave of cards at the dragon, maybe he could destroy it like he did with the last water jutsu, preferably before Sasuke got eaten. The cards seemed to have no effect however, as their sharp edges were largely ineffective against the semi solid mass of chakra and water.

"Naruto! Leave this to me, focus on the enemy!" Sasuke managed to bite out, dodging between the wild slashes of the dragon. Naruto cursed and resumed the attack on the jounin. He sent more explosive cards his way, but he was quickly running out.

"Any minute now Sakura," Naruto focused his attacks on the Kiri nin again, who seemed no less agile even while holding his hands in the odd seal. "Any minute now would be just peachy."

The jounin wasn't just idly dodging Naruto's attacks however, as he suddenly went on a taijutsu offensive. Using just his legs, he managed to put the blond genin on the defensive, even as the deadly cards swirled around him. Using his relatively small stature to his advantage, Naruto started to dodge between his kicks, shooting off cards in between movements in the monkey like style he developed with Kakashi.

With every kick from the much-too-smug jounin, Naruto's temper rose. Here he was, being attacked by a sadistic man in an unfamiliar land, and every injury he got on this mission so far was caused in some part due to his clan's techniques. Techniques stolen quite literally from the dead corpses of what had probably been his grandparents, uncles, and in another world, even siblings and cousins.

Naruto pushed back as hard as he could. He was up against a much faster and skilled opponent, but his opponent currently was without the use of his hands, being occupied by the dragon currently trying to eat his teammate. Slowly but surely, Naruto traded elegance and safety for speed and ferocity, finally managing to nick the jounin. Unfortunately it cost him, as he received a solid kick in the gut, rocketing him backwards into a tree bordering the shore.

At the same time, Sasuke took a hit from the dragon, who finally managed to sink its teeth onto his arm. He yelled out in pain, arm crackling with electricity as tried to destroy the technique.

The Kiri nin's eyes suddenly glazed over momentarily. Sakura, who had been trying to weave a high level illusion, had panicked upon seeing both her teammates injured so badly, and released her technique onto the jounin too early. With barely a pause, the jounin dispelled the illusion, and quickly dodged the cards that Naruto flung in the distraction.

Cursing, the jounin directed the dragon off Sasuke and directly at Sakura, who had given away her position after releasing the illusion. There wasn't much she could do, as even Sasuke was unable to outrun the much larger creature, and she cried out in pain as she was swallowed up by the technique.

This was the final straw for Naruto, the theft, seeing his teammate hurt, and seeing their last hope at freedom brutally shut down. He struggled to get up, fighting through the haze of pain and anger from jounin's kick. Something inside of him snapped, and power started to rush out of a spot just above his navel.

* * *

Deep within Naruto's psyche, a dark shape stirred from its twelve year slumber.

**"Hm?" **the dark shape raised its head slightly, **"Is it that time already?"**

It took stock of what had been happening, searching through the recent memories and sensations he had previously ignored.

**"Best help it along then," **the voice rumbled, its eyes opened as the dark shape grinned, **"Wouldn't want to miss the … fun"**

* * *

Outside, in the real world, Naruto slowly got up. Foul chakra leaked from his wounds as the sealed with a low hissing sound. The battlefield seemed to pause as the chakra permeated the air, thick in killing intent, hate, and anger.

The jounin was momentarily distracted by the chakra. It was hard not to be, even if he and most other Kiri nin had gotten used to the frequent battles with their jinchuuriki Kage, they never got used to the sheer volume of hate and anger contained in the demonic chakra.

The chakra formed a thin shell around Naruto, healing the rest of his wounds and disappearing into his body, leaving only the thick sensation of killing intent and a strong desire to rip his enemy apart. His red-slit eyes opened and found the jounin in an instant.

Growling in guttural rage, Naruto hunched over and flared his chakra, picking up all the scattered cards littering the battlefield and obscuring himself in a tornado of paper. Each and every one of the cards seemed to glow red momentarily, as their movements became faster and faster.

Naruto swiped his hand towards Sakura in a quick motion, sending three cards that blasted holes in the watery dragon that took out two-thirds of team 7, punching log sized holes where previously they were swallowed up. With barely a sound, the technique lost all coherency, and released Sakura who gasped for breath.

**"Sakura," **Naruto spoke, slightly surprised at the sound of his own voice, **"… Take Sasuke, get away from here."**

"Naruto…" her eyes darted to Sasuke, but hesitated.

**"NOW!" **Naruto yelled, before dashing off towards the jounin, cards following a half step behind like an angry red army.

He attacked ferociously, the cards responding almost as quickly, and swiped wildly at the jounin. He lost all semblance of technique as he attacked the jounin, but reaching a speed and power he never even approached before.

Cursing, the jounin was finally put on the defensive, trying to block the cards only seemed to destroy his weapons, which were startling the first time but now seemed downright annoying. Trying to gain distance was futile, as every time he attempted to do so the blond genin pursued him like a rabid dog.

Naruto kept up the offensive, chipping away at the jounin's defence bit by bloody bit. With a final roar of frustration, he concentrated chakra to his hand, instinctively forcing the cards around it to take the shape of a gigantic claw, and slashed at the jounin.

The jounin, caught off guard, had no chance against the wall deadly projectiles that came careening at him in an instant, and took the full brunt of the attack, ending the life of the still unnamed Kiri nin.

Naruto stood heavily, the chakra leaking from his seal slowed, and with a final flare suddenly disappeared. Naruto, unused to the sudden power drop, was unable to compensate, and fell unconscious almost immediately afterwards, dropping where he stood.

Sakura sighed in relief, she had been unable to get very far, and she was unsure if she should move Sasuke too much with the wounds he had. She finished bandaging up Sasuke with a piece of his own torn shirt, until they got to a medic that would have to do.

She looked back at her blond teammate, the foul chakra still lingered in the air around the battlefield, and she was positive the battle could be felt for miles. It was really only a matter of time before someone found them with a dead Kiri nin, and she was unable carry both her teammates to safety.

"Shit," Sakura said numbly, "Great. Now what?"

* * *

Partially hidden in the vegetation, outside of any normal range of vision, a man observed the battle with a single Byakugan eye.

"Well now," he said to himself, "Isn't this interesting."

* * *

**Sorry about the long wait, expect more regular updates in the future!**

Next chapter concludes the First B rank arc, and we're launching off into the chunin exams after that, so stay tuned!


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